Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia; Himaruya Hidekaz own it. I only own any OCs I may have used and the plot.

I hadn't expected to post chapter 2 this quickly, anyways I do apologize as I do not know a lot about boxing so I'll be improvising most of it.

Chapter 2

He had hoped for some inspiration on his nature walk. Something to take his mind off of things, but clearly it wasn't helping. The day was beautiful despite his lack of thought. It's a crisp autumn afternoon. The wind was blowing through the park, rustling the colorful leaves on the ground. Sounds of children playing at the playground, laughing, giggling after getting out of school. Few parents stood by, watching the toddlers join in the mob of elementary students.

Matthew sighed sitting on the bench, watching them. After Tau left, he couldn't remain focus to be able to concentrate on his story. Not only that, nothing flowed correctly. Each word sounded force attempting to get through the sentence much less the chapter. It was the last thing he needed right now. He had wanted to get something to his editor before he left on a vacation. At this rate it seemed hopeless to be able to get the chapters completed for review. Burying his head into his hands hopelessly, he stared down at the uneven ground. Most of the grass was turning yellow as the weather has gotten colder. He leaned back into the bench and looked up at the clear sky.

How was it that Arthur could sit there in his office all day and write as if there was no end? Did he not have writer's block as often? Matthew has always wanted to visit his cousin while he was working. It would be interesting to see someone successful in action. Unfortunately, he's unnoticed or completely ignored after being mistaken as Alfred, Matthew's older brother. The Canadian sighed heavily. Well it could be worst. He mused. He could be mistaken for his other cousin, Francis. It would only lead him cursed at and kicked out of his office. Though now that he think about it, it wasn't anything new if Alfred was there either.

A sudden chill in the air caused the blond to shiver, burying his head into his scarf. Reaching down to grab his laptop bag, he headed out of the park. As soon as the scenery changed so did the environment. The peaceful sounds of the children and nature was soon replaced. The sounds of honking and speeding cars zoom past the blonde's ears were hard to miss. How he missed his parent's home in Ontario. The house in the forest sat by the lake. Tranquil and quiet all year long. It was something he always looked forward to during the holiday season.

He lived in the city after attending university within the city of Chicago. It was also the place he had wanted to work for his writing career. Sure, Matthew preferred the rural areas better; even the suburbs would be more preferable. But with the career he wanted to start, he needed to start it in the city. Though as of now, he would do anything to go back to the rural areas. Just as a car sped with ear splitting music blasted out of their speakers. "Point taken for rural…" He muttered through the cold air.

Heading up the stairs, he searched through his pockets for the keys. Peace and quiet. Maybe I'll make some pancakes for dinner. I still have some maple mom sent from home. The thought immediately brighten his mood as he slid the key into the lock. He paused hearing noises on the other side. Rather loud noises to be exact. Rubbing his temples, Matthew immediately knew, dreading the sounds of his obnoxious brother.

He prepared himself as he unlocked the door and immediately tackled by Al. For a moment it felt like he saw stars after hitting the wall named his brother. It wasn't until the bone shattering hug brought him out of the stars and back to earth.

"Mattie! See! I told you, he wasn't kidnapped." A loud voice yelled into his ear.

"You git, you're the one that had a panic attack and almost called the police on him!" While a English voice yelled in his other.

He let go, pushing the Canadian to the side. Before proceeding to argue with Arthur who dutifully comply. After readjusting his glasses, blinking a few times to get his vision to correct. Matthew watched, befuddled by the situation. Not on the argument (he was used to that), more so on how they got into his apartment in the first place. "Al, how did you get in?"

He stopped, holding the fuming Brit at an arm's length away. "Arthur has your spare key in case you lost it."

Right… I had forgotten about that. It seemed logical to give Arthur as he sometimes crashed on the couch when he went to the bar close by. Plus he was his emergency contact. "Then why are you here? I thought you were busy with Kiku on the new game coming out."

"We are, but don't you know what's tonight?" His voice filled with excitement much like a little kid's during Christmas.

The Brit groaned a bit. "Your grammar is atrocious, Alfred. It's not what's tonight. If anything it'll be 'what tonight is' or 'what's happening tonight." Despite being born and raised in England, Arthur had came to America to work. He often regretted moving due to the vastly different cultures. Yet never settled to return back.

Al rolled his eyes. "Well sorry for being excited enough to be caught by the grammar police. Didn't you read the sign? It's a no grammar zone here."

"And where exactly is this sign?" He retorted.

"Anywhere I am!"

Matthew laughed a bit at his silliness. "Well what is happening tonight?" He figured it was probably some kind of sport's game that was being held in the city.

"Boxing!" The American cheered.

"Bloody git, what joy is there in watching two grown men fight?" Arthur folded his arms, frowning at Alfred. Clearly annoyed about the nonsense as he always has been.

"Pssh, where isn't there joy in watching them fight? It's like when we were younger and watching you and Francis fight. But you know... less of a sissy fight and more of a man's fight." Adding onto Arthur's anger without realizing.

The Brit scowled at him. "Did you call me out here just to annoy me? And I'll have you know, I only fought that way because of that frog! He's always whining every time I punched him and nothing else."

"Yea... sure..." Al sneered as he turned back to his invisible brother. "So Mattie, do you want to come? I called Artie here too, but he didn't want to go..."

"As I mentioned before, I have a deadline coming up. I don't have time for any of your nonsense, Alfred." Arthur crossed the room, heading out of the door. "Now if you excuse me. Goodbye Matthew."

"O-Oh, bye Arthur..." Giving a slight wave.

"Hey! You forgot to say goodbye to the hero!"

"Go to hell, Alfred." The door slammed shut, leaving the two brothers alone in the room.

Alfred shrugged it off, accustom to their cousin's insults. Grinning at his younger brother. "Well Mattie, you want to go? I brought two tickets, but seeing as Arthur doesn't want to go..." Taking out the tickets and waving them in front of the brother's face. "It'll be really awesome if you can come with, Mattie."

The blonde hesitated, eying the tickets. Matthew wasn't one to turn down tickets to any sports game. Hell, he would sell his soul just to get tickets to a Leafs' game. He loved the adrenaline that a game gave him and the energy he had after. It would become a need of his to play after watching. Some nights he wasn't able to sleep correctly without releasing the adrenaline rush.

He's never seen boxing as much of a sport. "I don't know Al..." He spoke quietly. It was essentially a fight between two men and he was never one for violence. Out of his family, he was likely the most pacifist despite being a huge fan of hockey. In which he wouldn't mind giving a good punch to anyone that badmouth about the sport. A sport that encourages fighting wasn't something he wanted to be a part of.

"Aww, come on Mattie! It's just like hockey..." Alfred slung an arm around his brother. He continued to try to convince him as he was sneakily headed out the door.

Suspicion grew as he watched his brother. "How so?"

"Well, first remove the ice, the gear, the sticks, the puck. Then leave the screaming fans and fighting, and you have boxing!" Giving his signature laugh.

"That's nothing like hockey!" Exclaiming as he tried to remove his brother's arm away from him. Sadly, he always had the short end of the stick when it came to strength. At least compared to Al.

"That's what they want you to think, it's just a conspiracy, don't worry about it. So you game?" He didn't let his brother have another word as he headed to the station.

Alfred kept his grip on his brother as they pushed through the crowd to get into the arena. The mob of people that came to watch this was astonishing to Matthew. Piles of people continued to gather from every direction. He hadn't expected boxing to be this popular. Wasn't it like MMA? Matthew grimaced, knowing for a fact he couldn't think that. He knew nothing about the two so who was he to judge.

Once they were inside, the crowd filed into their seats. Noises echoed throughout the room, bouncing around the dome room. In the center, held the ring. It was on a raised blue square platform; much like what he has seen in movies. Red and blue ropes connected to the tumbuckle.

Taking another look, amazed with the amount of people who came to watch. The seats filled up in a blink of an eye. His eyes continued to wander around the room taking in the energy. "...So what is this again?"

Al had gotten a soda while he was preoccupied with taking in the atmosphere. "Boxing… Dude, you've been working too much. Your memory's going bad." Reaching over and giving a pat on his head as he slurp his soda as loudly as he could.

"I know that Al… I meant is it just a random match or…?" Unsure on how to frame out his question as his lack of knowledge on this sport wasn't much.

"Oh, well there's this boxing tournament happening here in the city. They're holding the tournament for the top 8 competitors from around the world. Kiku scored me some tickets and let me go see the match. And seeing as you were living here in the city, I decided to stop by." In other words, he needed a place to crashed which didn't surprise him. He did wished his brother would visit for the sake of visiting sometimes. It wasn't the first time for him to do something like this. "I know the finals are in New York City, but it happens to be on the week for the game deadline. I don't think Kiku would appreciate me flaking off that week."

"Al, I don't think he appreciates it now..." Matthew muttered lowly. In Kiku's point of view, it would be better if Al flaked off this week. He'll be able to fix things now than during the last week of finalizing everything. He felt bad for the man sometimes, but Kiku never seemed to mind. "Well besides that, when did you even get into boxing? I thought you were all about MMA and WWE?"

"Well yeah I still am." Sounding a bit insulted. "But Kiku told me about boxing, so I checked it out and it's some pretty intense stuff. I would think you would appreciate it as you keep complaining that the WWE fake."

"And it still is."

Al pointed an accusing finger at his brother. "Lies!"

Looking at the opposing finger with a stoic look, he look up towards Al's eyes. "Are we really going to have this argument now?" And he wouldn't lose, that's for sure.

He narrowed his eyes. "…we'll discuss this at home like civilized men then." He spoke as he continued to slurp his drink. "Anyways, boxing is supposedly the real deal. I still don't understand everything about it, but looks cool."

Matthew sighed. Should have known it wasn't smart to get information from Al of all people. He listened through word of mouth and took in any information through doing rather than researching. "So who's fighting tonight?" Considering he was already stuck here, he'll attempt to understand the sport. He doubt he'll get far, but it doesn't hurt to try. He'll at least have some visual basis if he ever decided to have boxing in any of his stories.

Al's interest peaked, grinning as he explained. "Well it's the first night of the semi-finals. It'll be this American named Sean against this English dude from the United Kingdom. Which is why I wanted Arthur to come, but he refused." A pout formed on his lips. It was clear that Alfred wanted Arthur to come, but for all the wrong reasons.

Whether it was genuine or just to annoy him was hard to tell. Matthew never blamed Arthur for refusing to go along with Al's crazy ideas. If he wasn't related to him, he wouldn't been swept along with most of his ideas. Rarely was he able to get out of it. Even when he did, guilt would bring him back. Just to ensure that he was okay.

"Though, they're after the first two fighters. I'm not too interested in them, but it'll be a Cuban versus an Asian. I decided to bet on the Asian, 'cause Kiku's Asian and he's awesome. Thus Asians are awesome."

"Al, that's not a legit reason to vote on an ethnic group like that... If anything, shouldn't you look at how well they've fought?"

"Well…yeah, but Sean's a brawler, he'll take home the win no doubt about it." Confident in decision as he lost interest in the conversation. Proceeding to slurp the living death out of his drink as he watched the ring.

Matthew sighed heavily. He wondered how much Al had bet on these fighters. Hoping that Al hadn't bet a lot on a match, he slumped into his seat. Feeling a bit drained even though the event has yet to start. He wouldn't mind if this was something he had enjoyed or even curious in, but when it wasn't. His energy quickly depleted in crowds. Despite the energy emanating from the room was unreal. Cheering over two people fighting each other didn't seem right to him. And as his mind continued to argue over the moral rights of this. He looked around for an exit, wondering if it was best to try to escape before it started.

Within seconds, the crowd started to become rowdier and alive. People hollering out names and booing others. His attention was brought to the ring as the boxers entered to get ready. The first one to get in had dark skin and his hair tied back in dreadlocks. He had a rather smug grin as he waved to the audience. Egging them on as they cheered louder. He headed into one corner with a group of others that were already waiting for him.

Matthew frowned a bit, now hoping the Asian would beat him too. He never liked cocky people. It annoyed him to no end whenever he would play against one. The amount of frustration in competing wasn't worth it. Granted, it was satisfying whenever he won against them. His brother could be one at times. For example, he had a huge advantage for strength sports such baseball and football. Al was confident in his strength and knew Matt would never have a chance in beating him. Matthew had speed, hands down. Mattie always beaten him in hockey and even in basketball they were evenly matched.

As the crowd continued to scream and shout for their favorites. The Asian boxer walked into the ring. Heading straight for his corner without giving a look towards the audience. The Canadian blinked looking at the boxer. His appearance was oddly familiar. Leaning forward a bit, he tried to get a better view of him. Light tan skin tone and what looked like spiky black hair from behind. It couldn't be him, right?

Elbowing his brother to get his attention from cheering. "Hey Al, what's the Asian's name?"

"I have no idea... started with a T, but now seeing them in person... maybe I should of bet on the Cuban..."

"Is his name Tau?"

"Hmm? Oh yea, that's it." Grinning, remembering the name. "How did you know? Are you psychic or something?"

Mattie paled as he looked up at the screen noticing the similarities of the two. What was the likelihood of someone having that same name? Wishing he knew more Asian names. The boxer stood by an identical girl from the cafe. She wore a suit similar to what the other girl had wore. And what was the likelihood of him being with the same girl as this morning? They stood along with a few other guys. It looked like a pep talk before the event. Feeling his stomach turn a bit as he continued thinking. It was without a doubt that it was Tau when his name appeared on the screen. Even if he didn't know him that well, he didn't want him pummeled by someone. Hell, he didn't want anyone to be pummeled in general.

"Hey Mattie... you're looking a bit pale... you alright, bro?"