DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hetalia or any of its characters. See end for Author's notes.
When they reached the designated bedroom Matthew sat down on the bed, gesturing for his younger brother to join him. Alfred obliged, though he refused to look Matthew in the eyes.
"I'm serious, Alfred. How have you been."
"I'm managing," he claimed, with his strained, unused voice.
"I get that this is hard. It's been hard on all of us."
"I know."
"We're trying our best, we'll get through this," He seemed to be reassuring himself as much as he was his brother. "We still have family, and that's something to be thankful for, at least."
"You do, maybe," Alfred muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, appalled. Alfred merely shrugged.
"I know you never had the best relationship with them, but they're trying their best to reach out, and they're going through all this too. At the end of the day, they are still your brothers- our brothers."
"Okay." Was all he got out of him. Matthew sighed.
"You know, I really thought you might at least talk to me."
"I am."
"No… I'm talking. You haven't said more than three words at a time." He pointed out holding back obvious anger- no, frustration. He took a breath and gave his brother a final concerned look. "I'm going to head back downstairs to touch base with Seamus and Arthur." All he got from Alfred was a nod.
He descended the stairs, earning worried glances from the two Brits.
"How is he?" Asked Arthur, when he reached the landing of the steps.
"Did he talk?" Chimed in Seamus.
"Barely," Matthew stated.
"This whole silence thing is worrying me. It's been nearly a month." Arthur interjected. "Maybe we should consider therapy." Matthew glanced up the steps, towards the room containing his younger brother.
"Alfred's a stubborn kid. I say we give it a few weeks, let him get settled into this new life before we put him in any kind of counselling. Maybe he just needs some consistency back." He reasoned, knowing Alfred would not react well to what was being discussed.
"I'll give him a few weeks to adjust, but especially if he keeps up the whole not-talking bit, I'm scheduling something. I have my Psychology Degree, mind you. I'm not clueless when it comes to these situations." If Seamus's lack of a jab at Arthur's mention of his degree wasn't an indicator of the current mood, Matthew didn't know what was. "Speaking of, how have you been, Matthew? This must be quite rough on you too." Matthew knew this was coming eventually. He was surprised it wasn't the first thing his older brother asked, although they hadn't had that long to talk, as he arrived only about an hour earlier than the other two.
"I won't lie to you, it's been hard. I haven't had too bad of a mental breakdown, so far, although I credit that partly to being so busy with my internship. I've also had Samantha, who's stuck with me through all of it." He let out a humourless laugh. "What about you two?" Seamus smiled lightly and placed a hand on Matthew's shoulder.
"We've been autonomous for a long while, Lad. We should be the least of your concerns."
"Yeah, but she was still your mom!" Matthew countered. Arthur offered him a sad smile.
"Not as much as she was yours and Al's."
Samantha is a name I came up with for a female Cuba. It's not really my biggest Canada ship, I'm more of a Prussia/Canada gal, but I already have plans for Gilbert later on in this story. I couldn't find an official name, so I looked up "most popular girl names in Cuba" and went with that… Creative I know. She won't really have a role in this story at all, I just liked the idea of Matthew having someone as a support system, since he won't be getting the same 'Big Brother treatment' that Alfred is.
Also, if anyone is willing to Beta this story, I would appreciate it a ton! Just DM/PM (?) me. Anyone with knowledge- first hand or otherwise- of British schooling would be great. That's going to be a pretty significant setting for this story, though, and even with research, I'm worried that I'll over- Americanize it. Thank you so much!
Finally, thank you to my first reviewer! It really means a lot. You had some interesting predictions, although you'll have to keep reading ;) As for what you brought up with how I portrayed Alfred's experiences in school, I lived in an extremely small town where that was not common at all, thus a big deal, I totally agree that I exaggerated a bit, though. But I t was primarily, exactly like you said, a way to show Alfred's rejection of his background. Thank you again for your review, I hope you enjoy what this story has in-store!