[A/N: Sorry about not updating guys! I feel really bad about it but I have a lot of school stuff I had to finish, so I was able to sneak this chapter in. Hopefully you enjoy it, although it is a bit of a filler chapter. I have so many ideas for later on in the story, but I don't want to introduce them just yet . Anyways, sorry, I'll let you read now. A favourite, follow or a review would be greatly appreciated!]

"Soooooooooo?" Elizabeth said. She was beaming, and so was Fantine.

"Hmm?" Matt asked, brought back to reality. His head was still in the clouds.

"Soeur! Regarde!" Fantine giggled, pointing at Matt.

"I know, I see it too!"

"What?" Matt asked suddenly self-conscious. The twins just ran up and gave him a big hug, snuggling into his chest delightfully.

"Mattie's got his sparkle back! Mattie's got his sparkle back!" They cheered, then they simultaneously kissed both of Matt's cheeks, then returned to snuggling either side of him. He felt his face heat up, but he warmly welcomed the positive embrace.

It's been so long since I've seen them like this, Matt thought, Maybe I should try to be a better actor from now on, I guess they saw through me, but maybe with Gilbert here, I won't have to pretend from now on…

The twins then let go of him, smiling. They were overjoyed to see the liveliness back in his eyes.

"I hate to ruin the good mood, but there was a notice, there's another world meeting next Friday, something important."

"Alright, I'll mark it down," He told Elizabeth, taking off his coat. He noticed that there was something in his back pocket that he was sure wasn't there before, when he pulled it out, it was a piece of paper, marked with his name on it. He shoved it back into his pocket and walked up to his room.

He marked the day on his calendar and was about to read the note when he saw a little box sitting on his bed.

Curiously, he picked it up, read the label and felt his face get really red.

"GIRLS!" He called down, and all he got as a response was some hysterical laughter.

"Qui sait ce que ce type a! Nous ne voulons pas que tu attrapes quelque chose!" Fantine called up.

Who knows what he has ? We don't want you to…catch anything ? Matt translated, horrified.

"What the hell you two, you're both ridiculous. I don't even think countries can get STD's, but STILL! Please, stop doing things like this, it's embarrassing!"

"Whatever you say Mattie-moo!"

Matthew just rolled his eyes and threw the box of condoms into one of his drawers.

Hopping into his bed, he took the letter out and started reading it.


To Matt

I'm sure you will miss me while I'm gone, I just want you to know that somebody as awesome as me would never abandon you. Please remember that, I know how many times you've been lonely in your life, and I hope you realize that you have me now. If you ever need me, just call my cell, I'll be right there.

So you'll have to be without my awesomeness for a while, but hopefully that isn't too hard for you. Try to get some sleep while I'm gone, okay? Try and sleep with my necklace on, hopefully it will keep the nightmares away.

I'll get Ludwig to sneak me into the next world meeting, so I'll see you then. Hopefully I will be able to make arrangements to come and visit you again!

Don't fret, Prußen will be back for you soon.


Matt smiled, feeling truly happy.

He wondered how the hell Gilbert had managed to get that in his pocket. He remembered the kiss, blushing slightly at the thought.

It was like pure bliss, just to be held, and knew that you were wanted.

Oh yeah... He thought, remembering when Gilbert slid his hand down... there. Matt just blushed a little more.

He gently folded the note and set it on his bedside table. Twisting sideways to do so sent shocks up his spine, knocking the breath out of him and bringing tears to his eyes. The pain was horrible, and he cursed at his stupidity. He'd had this pain for a few hundred years, yet he often forgot that moving at all caused him awful pain.

He blinked as the pain receded back to it's normal state of aching. He let out a few breaths. He felt bad about lying to Prussia about why he always held Kumajirou, but he just couldn't face telling him the truth, and he had the perfect opportunity to slip a little believable lie.

Well, it isn't totally a lie He thought, because Kumakichi actually had that happen to him, but he had rarely ever carried his polar bear. It was only when he got his back pains that he started doing it. Kumajirou was heavy, but was easily annoyed and complained at the slight discomfort, so if he started trembling or shaking too bad, Kuma would make sure he knew all about it. It was hard to carry him around everywhere, but it was the best way of not only hiding the shaking, but to keep it on the down-low.

When he felt he could walk again, he got up slowly, trying unsuccessfully not to jolt his back. He stood up and walked around a bit, biting so hard on his lip that it started to bleed. He looked in the mirror and practiced walking normally again.

You only have to make it to the washroom, you can pass for taking some painkillers. You've been able to stay off of them for a few months.

He was scared he was going to get used to all the painkillers he was taking previously, so he went for as long as he could without them, but he'd always end up coming back to him. He'd tried a bunch of things to make it stop hurting, including smoking pot, but Britain caught him doing that, and it didn't turn out very well.

He couldn't let anybody know about this pain.

Nobody.

So he smiled cheerfully in the mirror, testing it out, making sure it was believable. When he was satisfied, he walked normally, out of his room, past the twins into the washroom. Once he locked the door behind him, he nearly fell onto the floor. It took all of his strength to reach up and take the painkillers out of the cabinet and swallow them.

He turned the shower on, but he knew that there was no way he would be able to shower in his condition, he just needed an excuse to stay there for a little while longer. Not wanting to fog up the whole room, he set it to just cold water.

He sat on the floor, waiting in agony for the medication to take effect. He had hid all his pills that he had secretly gotten from his doctor in a bottle of advil. Both of the sisters were allergic to Ibuprofen, so they would never touch it.

First he felt the drowsiness start to settle, then he felt the pain dull. He let out a sigh of relief and stood up. He decided that he should actually take a shower so he got in, not even realizing that the water was still set to cold. He quickly washed up, then dried himself off.

Once he put his slacks back on, he looked in the mirror, the strong make-up he was wearing had washed off. There were all sorts of scars on his back and chest that Gilbert didn't see. The big one on his back was hard to conceal completely, but the others weren't too hard to cover. He looked at each one in turn, all except from the one that ran from his right shoulder to his hip, and remembered where he had got them. Some were from him being too reckless, others were from World War 1 and 2. He looked at the small jagged line under his collar bone. He chuckled quietly.

"I doubt anybody actually knows I had a civil war," he whispered to himself, lightly tracing it, "Well, it did only last an afternoon."

[A/N: I'm not kidding, Canada had a civil war, it was really more of a rebellion, but still! It was in 1837 if you want to look it up]

He reapplied the makeup, he kept it hidden in a shaving kit. He used it on each of the scars, trying his best to hide them all, then used some under his eyes to make the look of sleepiness disappear.

He left the washroom, smiling brightly at the twins.

He's smiling so warmly, I'm so happy for him. Elizabeth thought, smiling back.


"Prussia's back!" Feliciano cheered, giving his best friend's brother a big hug. Gilbert smiled at the cute Italian and rustled his hair.

"Welcome home Gilbert." Ludwig said, smiling a little.

"Did ya miss me?"

"I did!" Feliciano said.

"Of course brother" Ludwig joked, and together they went inside. "How's Gilbird?"

"Canada fixed him right up!"

"Ve? I thought you went to America's."

"You guys are ridiculous, Canada is nothing like America, they barely even look alike. Anyways, when's the next world meeting?" Prussia said.

"Why do you care? You want to propose an idea? I don't think they will be too thrilled at bringing your nation back again..." Ludwig asked, surprised at his brother's sudden interest in world matters.

"Well, maybe, but if I were, I can assure you I wouldn't ask them for permission first. I would take it with my sheer awesomeness. As a matter of fact, I want to see my friend again."

Ludwig raised an eyebrow at his brother, wondering what this Canada guy had done to him.

"Ve~ Gilbert made a friend! That's so sweet! If Gilbert likes Canada, then I think I will like him too!"

"I think you would like him Feliciano, especially his food, it suits my awesomeness. Oh, speaking of," He said, pulling out the piece of paper that Fantine gave him, "Feli, do you think you could help me make this?"

"Poutine? Ve~?" Feliciano said, reading over it, trying to pronounce the french word with his italian accent.

"Pooh-teen," Gilbert corrected, "It's really good!"

"Ve, okay, I will help"

Gilbert nodded, then walked to the phone, writing Matt's phone number on Germany's list of numbers.

"111-1111?" Germany asked incredulously, thinking his brother had lost his mind.

"It's Canada's number."

"Ernsthaft?"

Seriously?

"I'm not kidding, he said he got such an easy number to remember because Alfred and Arthur kept forgetting it, but I guess it didn't work."

Ludwig just nodded his head, and then walked off towards his study.

So Feliciano and Gilbert worked feverishly in the kitchen, trying to follow the recipe exactly as it was written , which was kind of hard since Fantine's english writing wasn't perfect.

"Ve~ This reminds me of when Fratello France was learning how to write in english." Italy noted.

"Well Fantine, or rather French-Canada wrote this up for me, so that might be why."

"French Canada?"

"Well Canada has two sisters, English-Canada and French-Canada"

"Is there an Italian-Canada?" He asked excitedly.

"Maybe!" Gilbert encouraged.

"Ve~!"

When the poutine was done, Gilbert looked at it skeptically, then took a fry and tried it, after chewing a little he smiled. It was better than he expected.

Feliciano took one as well and his eyes brightened up.

"This is Canada's food?" He asked.

"Yeah, and this is too!" Gilbert replied, grabbing the bottle of maple syrup from the counter.

"Syrup?" Feli asked, confused.

"Try a bit!" He said, putting some on a spoon.

Feliciano put the spoon in his mouth, tasted the syrup, and got this massive grin.

"Germany! Germany!" He called running into his study with the bottle, "Germany! You have to try this Canadian syrup!"

Ludwig looked up from his paperwork, and gave the bottle a curious look. Gilbert poured another spoonful and coaxed his brother to take it. Ludwig breathed a sigh of defeat, and finally took it. He smirked a little and handed it back to his brother.

"It's sweet, but it's pretty good." He said, and returned to his work.

"Yay! Germany liked it!" Feliciano cheered.

As they all sat down to eat, Gilbert caught Ludwig about to mash up all the fries in the true German style.

"Don't you dare!" Gilbert said sternly. Ludwig sighed, but reluctantly ate the poutine as fries.

They all enjoyed it, so Gilbert decided it would be a good time to call Matt.

There was a few rings before Elizabeth answered.

"Hey you" She said, surprising Gilbert with how casual she sounded.

"Hey, is Matt there?"

"Ummmmmmmm... give me a sec, he's in his room right now, hopefully not in that room, but I'll see what I can do." She said, "Call you back in a sec."

Gilbert heard the click of the receiver and suddenly felt really worried. What if Matt was in his room?

What if you were the one that put him in there this time?

Gilbert clung to the phone waiting for the call back.

What's with him? Ludwig wondered, seeing his brother's worried expression.


Matt decided to return to his room, he really didn't feel like going outside today. He didn't really feel like doing anything, and the medication he had taken made him really sleepy.

Well, I guess I can make a few adjustments to my other room... He thought, wanting to rest his back. So he took off his key necklace and unlocked it. Walking inside, he wondered if Gilbert had seen it.

Under the couch was a box.

Matt hated opening that box, but he wanted to put Gilbert's note in there.

He braced himself, taking a deep breath, then sat on the floor, pulling the box out.

Inside were a bunch of papers, some were old, some were new.

He took out one of the oldest looking ones, testing his courage. Looking the writing, it was written by him probably when he was just a child.

Dear England, It read.

Why don't you love me like you love Alfred?
Did I do something wrong?
I'm sorry!
I hope I didn't dissapoint you, if I did, I'm so sorry.
Am I not good enough?
Do you not want me as your little brother?
Is it because I'm not as brave as Alfred, or as strong?
I'll try harder, I promise.
Just please, please, at least let me know what I have to do for you to love me.
-Matthew

Matt just looked at the tear-stained paper. The box was full of letters he never sent to people he loved like Alfred and Arthur.

This was a bad idea, I don't want to put this happy note in with all these sad ones...

He started to panic, shoving the paper back in the box and closing it up. He felt the tears start to come back.

The loneliness.

The despair.

The feeling that he'd never really be wanted.

Shaking his head, he wiped the tears from his cheeks. He curled up his knees to his chest, but immediately regretted doing so. Bending his back hurt to much, even with the help of the medication.

Gasping, he just let himself fall sideways. He laid on the floor, panting a bit. He clenched his teeth and sat back up again.

"Idiot" He murmured to himself.

He tried multiple times to stand up again, but with no such luck. He gave a sigh of defeat and just pulled himself, painfully, onto the couch.

That's when he heard the phone ring. Startling him, and jolting his back again.

"Dammit" He said and stood up, practically running out of the room, ignoring the pain.

A lot of harsh words quietly flowed out of his mouth as he locked the door and straightened his back, trying to walk around normally again. When he wasn't jerking around anymore, he checked the mirror, making sure he hadn't accidentally wiped any of the makeup off. He still looked like he was awake, which was good.

He listened for Elizabeth's voice on the phone, but there was only silence.

Then there was a light knock on his door.

"Come in!" Matt said with as much cheer as he could.

"Oh, hey Matt. I was just called looking for you. Gilbert just called, would you mind calling him back? I told him you were in your room." She told him, relieved that she didn't find him in the back room. She handed him the portable phone and left, closing the bedroom door behind her.

Matt laid down on his bed, keeping his back straight in order to not make any sudden moves while talking to Gilbert.

Redialing the number, the phone picked up halfway through the first ring.

"Hello?" Came Gilbert's familiar voice. Matt smiled a bit at just hearing the anxiousness in his voice.

He must've been worried.

"Hey Gilbert, what's up?"

"Oh, Matt? When Elizabeth said you were in your room I thought..." He said, his voice drifting away.

"Oh no, I was just uh," Matt struggled to think of something to say he was doing, "tidying my room a bit." More half-truths.

"Liar." Came Gilbert's response.

"What do you mean? It's what I was doing."

"No you weren't, I can tell by your voice, what's wrong? You were in there, weren't you?"

"Maybe..." Matt said, giving in a little.

"Why? Were you-"

"I was just... I was just putting a few things in there, there wasn't really anywhere I could put them in my room." That time it was the truth, if Gilbert misinterprets it, it's not Matt's fault.

"Alright, I'll trust you this time. So what have you been up to today?"

"Well a certain somebody left for Germany this morning, then I helped out around the house." He replied jokingly.

"Well hopefully you aren't missing my awesomeness too much. Anyways, Feli and Ludwig both love the poutine and maple syrup. You'll have to come over here once for a few beers." He said.

Although Ludwig's intimidation was kind of unnerving, Matt felt safe with Gilbert.

"That sounds nice." He admitted.

"Alright, it's a deal then." Matt could hear the smile in Gilbert's voice.

So they talked for a while, pretty much about nothing at all, but that didn't matter, they were talking to each other, that's all they really needed.

"So did you get my note?" Gilbert said with a light tone.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I did" Matt said, trying to imitate Gilbert's positive attitude.

"That's good, and I trust that you believe what I wrote?"

"I do," Matt said quietly.

"...Do you think you'll be okay sleep-wise tonight?" He added just as quietly.

"I.. think so" He said, and tried to bring back the happy tone.

"I hate to say this, Matthew but I have to go, so I guess I'll see you at the world meeting."

"Oh, okay." and with that, the phone hung up.

Matt let out a little sigh, it was getting late now, and he was feeling tired.

As sleep started to drag him under, he immediately got out of bed, despite the pain.

His night terrors were bringing misery to Fantine and Elizabeth, and he was sure that if he fell asleep, they would only come back.

If he didn't need to, he wouldn't sleep. He wouldn't let anybody worry about him.


"Buongiorno!" Came a happy voice.

Matt turned around to see Italy and Germany walking up behind him.

"Oh, good morning Italy, good morning Germany." He said back to them, smiling.

Everybody was in their suits and ties, the world meeting was today.

"It's Canada, right?" Germany said.

Matt looked at him, surprised.

"Uh, yeah, I am." He said, happy that somebody finally recognized him, "But please, call the Matthew."

"Ve~ He's cute! Just like Gilbert said!"

Matt felt his face heat up. Italy came up to him and hugged him. He just kind of stood there a little awkwardly.

"My name's Feliciano. Also, is there an Italian-Canada?" He asked suddenly.

"You mean like there's an English-Canada and French-Canada? Actually, there is. We have one representative of each country that lives in my place. That's the beauty of being multicultural, once there is a percent of the Canadian population from a nationality, then there is a representative for the. Fantine and Elizabeth live at my place, but I believe I've met Italian-Canada, her name is Isabella. There's a Germany-Canada too, his name is Gustav."

"That's amazing!" Feliciano said, squeezing Matt a little too tightly, causing him to gasp, "Oh no, Matthew, why are you shaking like that?" Feliciano said, worried.

"Oh it's nothing, don't worry about it." Matt said, expertly masking the pain, and sounding cheerful again.

Feliciano looked at him, but then let it go.

By then, it was time to go into the boardroom. Matt hadn't seen Gilbert anywhere, and that made his heart sink.

Today, he was sitting between Britain and America, probably one of the worst spots to be, but he didn't care. He was able to be invisible to everyone, so it didn't matter anyways.

"Alright guys! So about the whole issue on..." Alfred started. Matt actually envied how everybody seemed to be able to hear and see his brother, it was just the way Alfie was, Matt on the other hand, nobody noticed. Holding Kumajirou, he sat and listened to what ridiculous things America was saying.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his thigh, nearly jumping out of his seat, he looked under the table to see a pair of laughing red eyes.

"Gilbert!" Matt said quietly, both surprised and happy.

"Hey Birdie, did you miss me?"

Matt motioned for him to wait a bit.

Sitting up straight, he pulled out one of his hairs, and curled it.

He stuck it on Kumajirou's head to match his own curl.

"What are you doing?" The bear complained.

"Can you pretend to be me for a little bit?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Canada" He sighed. He removed his tie and glass and dressed up the bear.

Once he was satisfied at how Kumajirou looked, he chuckled at how ridiculous this plan was, but it wasn't like anybody would notice him missing. He slipped under the table, as gently as he could so he wouldn't tip off Gilbert as to how much his back was hurting today.

He sat with his back against the legs of the chair, Kumajirou weighed enough that he could lean against it without it slipping away.

Before he could think, Gilbert was on all fours over him, kissing him. The action was so sudden that Matt froze for a second.

Gilbert smiled against his lips and pulled away slightly,

"How's my little Mattie-bird been doing?" He asked in a voice that made Matt's heart speed up. He was still a little too stunned to reply. He had only known this guy for a few days and he was being so forward.

"Good" He finally manage to reply, but his voice was too high, he cleared his throat and tried again, "I'm good, how about you?"

"I've been lonely." He said sadly, "but it's all better now."

Smiling, he rested on hand on Matt's cheek, pleased when Matt immediately leaned into his hand. Gilbert leaned forward and first gave him a kiss on the forehead then on each cheek. Finally, he stopped, his lips hovering a hair's width away from Matt's, teasing him.

He wasn't sure what compelled him to do so, but this time, Matt closed the distance between them. Gilbert's smile widened when Matt was the one kissing him instead of the other way around. Gilbert moved his hands into Matt's hair. It was silky to the touch, much like Francis' was.

Gilbert started pulling away, but Matt automatically followed him. He laughed and instead deepened their kiss.

Suddenly they heard Arthur start to pipe up.

Matt broke away this time, a little sparkle in his eyes.

"Now listen, Arthur has gotten louder, so Alfred will get louder too. Then Francis will join in."

Not two seconds after Matt made his prediction, Francis' voice was heard above the others.

"This will continue for a bit, Ita-Feliciano," He corrected himself, "will complain to Germany about being hungry or bored, then Japan will takes sides with Alfred. Ivan and Wang Yao will make it very clear that they won't listen to anything anybody else says. Once it starts to get out of hand, your brother will get mad, and shout at everybody. Then it will all calm down, and nothing will get done."

"You must know a lot about these meetings." Gilbert said as he heard Feli start complaining to Ludwig.

"It's the same thing every time. I wonder why I even bother to come here." Matt sighed.

They continued their kiss, but this time it was slower and more passionate than their previous fever.

Suddenly, The table shook. Germany started yelling at everybody. Matt jumped, then winced as shocks went through his spine. Gilbert shook his head,

"He's going to give himself high blood pressure after all of this." He mumbled in a concerned tone.

All Matt could do is nod, afraid to make a noise or move his back for fear he might cry out. By the time peace was restored to the room, Matt felt well enough to move again.

"The meeting will be over soon, so I'm going to return to my seat, I'll see you afterwards." He said with a smile, but he was felt reluctant to leave Gilbert. Gilbert nodded and crawled off of him. Matt tried his best to get back on his seat without showing any evidence of excruciating pain, but he managed to do it without making Gilbert suspicious. He put Kumajirou on his lap, who immediately started complaining about how badly he was shaking.

Matt just shushed him and put his tie and glasses back on.

Not too long afterwards, the people sitting at the table dispatched. Matt stood up, trying to stretch a little, and waited for everybody else to leave the room. Gilbert crawled out from under the table.

Walking towards Matt with that amazing half-smile, he grabbed Matt's tie and pulled him into one more quick kiss.

Feliciano, who was peeking through the door, looking for Matt and Gilbert saw the whole thing and giggled, closing the door. He looked over at Ludwig, who raised his eyebrow.

"Well? Are they coming?"

"Ve~ Give them a sec!" Feliciano started giggling more.

Matt walked out first, followed by Gilbert. Feliciano kept on giggling, and Ludwig gave him an impatient look.

Matt at this point, felt... good. Great even, despite the effort it took to pretend like everything was okay, he actually felt happy for the first time in a while.

"Hey! Canada!" Came a familiar voice from behind them.

Leaning on the wall was Belgium and the Netherlands. They were waving at the now visible Canada.

"One second please guys" He told Feliciano, Ludwig and Prussia, "Hello Netherlands, Hello Belgium, what was your day?"

"It was very nice!" Belgium said in her cheery voice. He felt bad that he could never remember their names, they just referred to each other by their country names.

Netherlands held out three tulips to him, one was yellow, one was red, and the other was purple.

"They've already started blooming," He said happily, "I got some of the first three for you, Fantine and Elizabeth. I'll send the rest over shortly"

"They're beautiful, thank you." Matt said, and turned to go back to Gilbert, "Have a great day, eh?" He called over his shoulder.

Gilbert eyed the flowers, suddenly feeling a pang of jealousy.

Why the hell did Netherlands just give Matt flowers?

He asked the thought out loud and Matt laughed lightly.

"Temporarily declare a maternity ward in Canada Dutch territory, and they are forever grateful." He said, smiling at the tulips, "You should come see our tulip festival."

"Fratello Francis took me there one year! There were so many pretty flowers!" Feliciano piped up.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Matt said pleasantly. Gilbert watched him curiously, it was as if as Matt was... solidifying before him. He wasn't as invisible anymore.

Interrupting his thoughts, Alfred came up out of nowhere and casually put his arm around his brother's shoulder. With the two side-by-side, it was obvious how people got them confused.

"Hey little bro! Were you even at the meeting? I didn't see you!"

"Abruti," He mumbled in french, then sighed, " I was sitting right beside you."

"really?! You're kidding right? I thought I was sitting beside Eyebrows!"

Before he could reply, Ivan stood behind him and put his hands on his shoulders. Matt seemed totally unfazed, but Alfred jumped away in fear.

"Добрый день Иван!" Good day Ivan, Matt said in Russian, much to Feliciano's and Ludwig's surprise.

This guy knows Russian? Ludwig wondered. Even he was a little intimidated by Ivan, and Feli was hiding behind him, but Matt just smiled and turned around.

"Good afternoon Matvey, I was wondering. When are you wanting to play hockey again?"

"Are you still upset after your last three losses?" Matt said jokingly, despite the dark look that flashed through Ivan's eyes.

This guy is definitely insane. Ludwig concluded, seeing Matt tease Ivan about losing.

"So when will the rematch be?"

"Well, the snow's all melting in the south, but it's still very frozen up north. We can have it at your place or mine."

"I'd prefer it at mine,"

"Tsk, you really should realize that General Winter can't help you out, not only in hockey, but I'm Canada! My winters are just as bad as yours."

Ivan just smiled pleasantly, "Then next week?"

"Sounds like a plan."

And with that, Ivan left, leaving Matt alone with the group.

Feliciano, Ludwig and Gilbert just stared at him.

"What?"

"Y-you just made plans, to willingly go to Ivan's house for a game of hockey." Feliciano said with disbelief.

"So? We do it all the time. Hockey and Lacrosse are my national sports. I'm just glad I'm not playing Lacrosse with him, that might turn out to be deadly," He joked.

"I think your new friend has a death wish." Ludwig told Gilbert, but Gilbert just smiled.

"Kick his ass, Birdie. I wanna see his face when he gets destroyed." He said wickedly.

"I'll certainly try!"

"I've never really seen you play hockey," Feli spoke up, "But isn't Alfred pretty good at it too."

Matt just gave him a patient look.

"Feliciano, a large portion of hockey players in Alfred's teams are Canadian."

"Really? Ve~ That's funny!"

So they walked outside, and Gilbert noticed how happy Matt looked, he was being noticed and talked too.

Standing at the crossroad to go to North America and Europe, Gilbert was trying to convince him to join them to Germany's house.

"Matthieu! Matthieu!" Came Francis' voice. Matt perked up and smiled, seeing him, he ran up and hugged him.

"Mon petit prince...Mon beau garçon..." Francis mumbled into Matt's hair, stroking it.

"Bonjour mon père, je suis si heureux de te voir! Comment allez-vous?" Hello father, I'm so happy to see you! How are you? Matt spoke in french. When he lived with Francis, he called him his father, while Arthur made him call him no more than brother, but he prefered Arthur or Mr. Kirkland.

They continued to have their moment, while Feliciano took the opportunity to talk to Gilbert. Ludwig was left wondering just how many languages Matt spoke. Seeing his brother's face, Gilbert smirked.

"He's knows German too, trust me, don't tell me any of your secrets thinking they will be safe with Matt around."

"Gilbert! Can I talk to you for a second?" Feli asked.

"Sure Feli" He said smiling, rustling his hair. Feliciano was grinning from ear to ear. He stood up on his tiptoes to whisper in his ear.

"You must really like Matthew" He whispered, giggling. "I saw what happened"

"You did, did you? Well, he's a great guy." He whispered back.

"He's really nice, and has good food. I was afraid to try it when you said he was raised by Arthur, but I guess the time he spent with Fratello Francis paid off."

They laughed a bit and watched as Matt started pulling away from Francis.

Francis gave him a loving - a little too loving if you were anybody but Francis - kiss on his forehead, then each cheek.

"How's your back?" He whispered to Matt, who was shocked. Gilbert strained to hear, while Feliciano started talking to Ludwig about something.

"Y-y-y-you knew about it? H-how?" Gilbert scrutinized Matt's expression, one of fear and surprise.

"You didn't think you could fool me, did you? I know you better than you think."

"I-It's fine! It doesn't hurt! I swear!" Matt said, loud enough for Gilbert to hear. Even more worried, he started moving towards Matt.

"Oh, you mean you won't feel a thing when I do this" Francis said as he yanked Matt over to him, bending his back backward. Caught off guard, Matt let out a yelp and saw red for a second. Gilbert was there in an instant. Grabbing Matthew away from Francis, and putting himself in between the two. In the process, without realizing, he curved Matt's back even more, but he was able to grit through it without making any more noise.

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL WAS THAT, FRANCIS?!" Gilbert yelled, infuriated, holding Matt close to him. Francis just looked past his friend and over to Matt.

"S'il vous plaît obtenir que vérifié plus tôt plutôt que plus tard, sinon je vais devoir tu fais glisser à l'hôpital." He said and walked away. Gilbert didn't understand french, but Feliciano did, and he looked over at Matt with sympathy. Gilbert was still steaming, but calmed down instantly when he felt Matt's cold hand gently touch his cheek. He looked down at him with worry in his eyes, but Matt looked fine, in fact, he was smiling again, but there was a bit of a glazed look in his eyes, the sparkle wasn't there.

"I'm fine Gilbert, thanks." He said as Gilbert helped him stand up properly.

"Jesus Christ Matt, what was all of that?"

"Francis is just a bit of a worry-wart, it's no big deal," He said cheerfully. Not showing any evidence of pain, although on the inside, he felt like he was about to pass out. "Lacrosse is a violent game" He added.

It has nothing to do with anything at all, but I'm not lying, I'm just making a statement that they might end up connecting with my previous words. he thought.

Gilbert looked at him skeptically, but Matt's acting skills were enough to convince him. With a sigh of defeat. He just pulled Matt into a hug.

"If you're in pain, you really should tell me, it's no good keeping it to yourself."

How ironic, you're bending me into you right now, causing me almost unbearable pain, yet you want me to tell you when I'm in pain... Matt thought darkly, but was indulging in Gilbert's warmth. He felt happy and safe in his arms.

"Alright" He said, and smiled at him.

Gilbert let him go. Ludwig was watching his brother's actions with curiosity, while Feliciano was smiling widely.

"So do you think you'll come over?" Feli asked.

"I would love to, but I promised Fantine and Elizabeth I'd be back, there's some parliament meeting today that I need to get to, sorry. I'll try and come visit soon though, I promise!"

"Ve~" Feli sighed sadly.

They waved good-bye and started walking off in different directions.

Once the others were out of sight, Matt walked into a dense part of the woods and laid down, panting with pain. He grit his teeth and tried to wait it out, but it only seemed to be getting worse.

He tried to get up, but after a lot of pain and colourful words, it didn't seem like that was a possibility either.

"Mon fils, Matthieu. C'est tellement étrange d'entendre ces mots proviennent d'une bouche aussi innocent que le vôtre."

My son Matthieu. It's so strange to hear those words come from a mouth as innocent as yours.

"Vous allez, s'il vous plaît. Je vais bien, vous pouvez aller à ta maison." He replied to Francis.

You go, please. I'm fine, you can go home.

"My son, as brave as ever. You need to learn to accept help sometimes." He said, picking up his son and putting him on his back, cringing after every whimper Matt let out, "I'll take you home."

Matt had already passed out from the pain. Francis turned his head and gave him a little kiss on the cheek.


"Père, ce qui se passe?" Father, What is happening? His Matthieu said in a panic. They were crouching in his house and there were loud noises everywhere, gunfire and lightning from the storm. His fragile Canada, who was no more than a toddler, was terrified. Francis picked him up and held him close.

" Je suis tellement désolé Matthieu, s'il vous plaît pardonnez-moi. Je t'aime tellement, mais c'est la seule façon tu sere en sécurité." I'm so sorry Matthieu, please forgive me. I love you so much, but it's the only way you'll be safe He said through his sobs. Burying his face in his only son's hair. Matthew started crying as well, he was so scared.

It was at that moment that Arthur burst through the front door, the glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Francis, give him to me, he'll be safe with me, isn't that what you wanted? You can either give Matthew to me peacefully or I can take him by force. Either way, he's mine." He said with a mocking tone.

The man Matthew didn't recognize stood tall in the doorway. Matthew knew that this man was bad, but he suddenly felt Francis start to pull him out of his arms and out towards the man. he scrambled to get back to the safe embrace of his father, but Francis was too strong. He held Matthew out to the scary man.

"PAPA! NON! S'IL VOUS PLAÎT NE LAISSEZ PAS ME PRENDRE!" DADDY! NO! PLEASE DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME! He cried, as the man extracted him from his father's arms.

He kicked and screamed, but it was no good. He was taken away by the bad man as he watched Francis crumple to the ground, sobbing in defeat.

He was held to Arthur's shoulder, and the rain cascaded down around them. He reached for his father, but he never came running after him. He never came to save him.

That was Matt's first experience with the feelings of rejection and betrayal.

He didn't want you anymore, that's why he gave you to the bad man. He didn't think you were good enough.

Matt sobbed and tried to get out of the man's hold, but it was no use. Matthew eventually gave up struggling due to exhaustion. The rain made it very cold and miserable.

When they were far away from his father's home, they went inside a tent, where the man sat him down.

"Alright Canada, you belong to me now, so stop crying. You no longer have to live with that creep France. I'll introduce you to my little brother, I think you will like him." He said with triumph, "My name's Arthur, Arthur Kirkland."

"Je ne... sais pas... ce que vous... dites" Matthew managed to say. He was done crying, but he was still hiccuping.

"What? The bastard didn't teach you english?" Arthur said with exasperation, "Curse him, I had a feeling, well it looks like I will have to find somebody to teach it to you."

With that, he just walked away, but he came back with a boy that looked like Matthew in his arms.

"Woah! This is the boy you were talking about?" he asked in an excited voice, "Matthew?"

"Oui, je m'appelle Matthieu" He whispered.

"What is he saying ? I don't understand his speaking."

"He was raised by Francis, so he only speaks french."

"Well that's no fun." the boy said, pouting.

"Papa... Kumakichi..." Matthew mumbled, then curled up into a ball. A soldier returned with a big case.

"This is all of the boy's stuff, Francis told us to take his polar bear as well. What kind of guy lets a youngster like him play with a polar bear! Those french-men are whacked in the head, I'm tellin' ya."

He handed the case to Matthew, who took it, knowing what it was.

"Kumakichi..." He mumbled again.

"Kumakichi? Is that you're polar bear? I'll bring him over." The soldier said happily, trying to cheer the boy up, "did you really have to chose such a way to rip him from Bonnefoy? I mean, I realize you wanted to make it very memorable and dramatic, but that kid's going to be scarred for life now."

"It was the only way" He said curtly, but realized that maybe what he did was wrong, what if he wouldn't be able to get Matthew to trust him?

Testing out his limited french, he knelt in front of him.

"Parle-tu anglais?" He asked.

"...un peu" He said after a little while. Arthur knew that 'un' mean 'a', and he could only guess that that 'peu' meant something like 'little'.

He motioned for him to continue, but Matthew looked around nervously.

"Ce n'est pas grave, It's okay" He said.

"Uhh, hello, my name is Matthew. I am Canada. I have a bear who name is Kumakichi. I like maple syrup and Britain is an idiot." He said, reciting what France taught him, having no idea what half of what he was saying was.

Arthur looked very surprised and then very mad. Matthew got really scared.

"C'est ce qu-que Francis m-m-m'a appris à d-dire." He stuttered.

Arthur sighed, knowing that Francis must have taught him to say that.

"Alfred, I have a very important mission for you."

"Yes sir!" He said, excited to have something to do.

"I need you to find somebody who speaks french, you go it?"

"Yes sir!" He said again, and ran off. The first soldier came back holding a snarling polar bear pup. He wrestled to keep it in his arms, but then it saw Matthew and got out, running straight for the boy. Terrified, both Arthur and the soldier tried to stop it, but Matthew just pulled it into a hug.

"I'm back Mr. Kirkland!" Alfred called, holding another soldier's hand, leading him back.

"Good job Alfie, you're my hero." He said, lovingly ruffling his hair.

"Yay! I'm the hero!" He said happily. Matthew just buried most of his face in the back of Kumakichi's head. He watched as Arthur showed so much affection towards Alfred. A small hiccup escaped him.

"Papa ne voulait plus de moi. Je n'étais pas assez bon, alors il m'a donné à ces hommes." Daddy didn't want me. I wasn't good enough, so he gave me to these men. Matthew said with such despair that even though they didn't understand what he said, they all stopped and looked at him.

The man who spoke french went up to him,

"Ce n'est pas vrai, ton père tu aime. Tu sere en sécurité avec nous..." The man said trying to convince the boy, but Matthew just looked at him with his innocent, big blue-purple eyes that were filled with a sorrow that no child should ever experience.

"What's he saying?" Alfred asked, curious.

"He thinks that France didn't want him anymore, that he wasn't good enough for him, and that he got rid of him, giving him to us because of that." he said, his voice breaking a little at the end, seeing a child in such a state was enough to break his heart.

The rest of them just watched Matthew, and Matthew looked at each one of them in turn. A pain struck Arthur's heart, imagining if Alfred ever had that look on his face was unbearable. When Matthew looked at Alfred, Alfie started crying. He looked up at his big brother.

"Why is he so sad?" He asked, pulling on Arthur's pant leg.

"We had to take him from his father, he thinks that France was getting rid of him. He thinks he wasn't good enough for him, so he abandoned him." Arthur told him, deciding to be honest.

"But that's not true, right? His daddy loved him right?"

"He loved him very much, yes"

To Arthur's surprise, Alfred ran up and pulled Matthew into a hug, or at least, the best he could as Matthew held his polar bear.

"It's okay Matthew, you'll be okay with us, you're daddy loved you, Mr. Kirkland told me so, and he never lies."

Matthew looked at the boy, noticing the similarities between the two. He then looked at the french speaker, who translated the message.

Matthew put Kumakichi on the ground, and walked in front of Alfred. Alfred jumped and spun around as Matthew lifted up his shirt.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"... frère?" he whispered quietly.

"What?"

"'Frère' means brother in french." Arthur translated, he knew that since it's what Francis called him.

"Brother?"

Matthew lifted his own shirt to show a strange birthmark above his left hip. America recognized it, since he had one very similiar to it.

"Woah, that looks like mine!"

Arthur immediately knelt between the two, Alfred lifted his shirt to reveal his own birthmark above the right hip. He studied them carefully, then nodded.

"Looks like you're right Matthew, il est ton frère."

"Mon frère jumeau, je me souviens." Matthew stated matter-of-factly. "Alfred"

"Hmmm?" Alfred asked.

"He says he remembers you, and that you are twin brothers" The translator said.

"Brothers? I thought you were my brother Arthur."

"You know I'm not actually your brother, I'm just your brotherly figure. I get you to consider me as your elder brother, but Francis got Matthew here to consider him as his father, but you two, I believe are actual blood-brothers."

Alfred looked at Matthew, and suddenly remembered. A vague memory, but the unique purple-blue eyes brought memories of his other half, one that he had all but forgotten until now.

"I have a twin brother, his name is Matthew. We have birthmarks that fit together perfectly. We both have a curl in our hair, but they are a little different. We speak different languages-" Alfred rambled on, practicing a trick that Arthur taught him.

"Remember Alfred," He had said, "Whenever something seems crazy or hard to understand, just speak the things you've learned, and see if you can make sense of them."

"brother..." Matthew said, testing out the english word.

"Oui Matthew," Arthur struggled to make a sentence in french. "'frère' est 'brother'"

Matthew nodded and looked at Arthur intelligently, he then turned to the translator.

"Comment dit 'salut' en anglais?"

"hi"

Matthew nodded again, turning to Alfred.

"Hi, my name is Matthew, I have a bear who name Kumakichi, and I am twin brother to you" He said, concentrating hard.

"You spoke with good english!" He said excitedly, " but you'd say "I have a bear whose name is Kumakichi, or you could say named Kumakichi. Also, it would be 'I am your twin brother.'"

"I am your twin brother." Matthew said, struggling to remember all the unfamiliar words. "I have a bear named Kumakichi."

"Hi, my name is Matthew, I have a bear named Kumakichi, and I am your twin brother." Matt tried again. Alfred smiled and hugged Matthew. The translator even clapped.

"Good job Matthew! Perfect!" Alfred cheered.

"Parfait?"

"Yeah!"

Matt turned to the translator and said something in french.

The translator nodded and laughed.

"He says that english is a very weird language, like in french they say 'je m'appelle John,'" He said, using his own name as an example, "which translates to 'I call myself John,' while in english we say our name is whatever."

"That makes french a weird language, what if somebody else was saying what your name was? He calls himself?"

"Yup, that's how it works."

"Weird."

"John," Matt asked, after hearing his name, "Comment épelez-vous mon nom en anglais? En français, je l'épelle M-A-T-T-H-I-E-U mais mon papa m'a dit qu'il l'est orthographié différemment en anglais." How do you spell my name in english? In french I spell it M-A-T-T-I-E-U, but my dad told me that it is spelt differently in english.

"Oui Matthew, en anglais, il est M-A-T-T-H-E-W."

Matthew nodded, trying to remember the spelling.

"What?" Arthur asked, confused.

"In french, he spells his name with and I-E-U instead of an E-W, so he was asking how it was spelt in english."

"Oh, okay. I didn't realize there were different ways to spell the same name."

"Matthew! Come with me! I'll help you learn english!"

Alfred took Matt's hand, and the two of them ran through the forest, Alfred pointing at things, and named them in turn. Matt would repeat after him and try his best to remember it.

"Tree!"

"Arbre: tree"

"Rock!"

"Roche: rock."

Arthur smiled, watching the two children run off.


"Papa, tu me manques.
Alfred est méchant avec moi, et M. Kirkland n'a même pas me parler.
Mon anglais est mauvais, mais j'essaie.
J'espère que vous avez vraiment ne m'a pas abandonné moi,
mais je pense que tu m'aimes encore.
J'espère que je pourrai vous revoir bientôt.

-Matthieu"

Dad, I miss you. Alfred is mean to me, and Mr. Kirkland does not even talk to me. My English is bad, but I try. I hope you really did not abandon me but I think you still love me. I hope I can see you again soon.

Francais read the note out loud. He had a feeling that Matt kept one of these boxes. He had taught him as a child that if he was ever feeling down or sad, to write a letter. Even if you couldn't send it, he would feel better expressing himself.

Elizabeth and Fantine were out, so Francis let himself in, and brought Matthew to his room and laid him down. He changed him out of his suit into a pair of slacks so he could be comfortable. He was actually surprised at how muscular his little boy was, but then remembered watching him play hockey fro the first time, and shuddered at the memory. He was not very fond of watching his little prince beaten on in such a violent game.

It surprised him, really, that Matthew, such a shy, calm and respectful man was so fond of such barbaric sports.

When Francis had undressed him, he saw that Matthew was wearing two necklaces. One was a key, and the other was silver and black cross he remembered Gilbert wearing.

"Now how did you get that," He had wondered.

He took the key on a hunch, and unlocked the door in the bedroom. There was a collage on the wall, one of pictures of Matthew with people like himself, Alfred and Britain. He saw one that he remembered, it was a photograph of him holding a very young, laughing Matt. He was holding his large blue hat on Matt's head. They were both laughing and having a great time. It was probably one of his favourite pictures, they both just looked so happy, it was the good days.

He read through some more of the letters, and felt a tear roll down his cheek.

His little prince had been suffering so much in silence...

How had he not noticed sooner?

He put everything away gently, and re locked the room. He lifted his son's head and put the key back around it. He gently kissed his forehead, and wiped the tears from his whimpering son's eyes.

Francis looked at his fingers, there was a mysterious powder on them.

Is my son wearing makeup?

He wiped at Matt's face more, and sure enough, more skin coloured powder came off, revealing dark circles around his eyes.

"Mon douce Matthieu, pourquoi n'avez-vous pas dormi?" My sweet Matthew, why are you not sleeping? he whispered. Under closer inspection, he saw that there was actually make up almost all over the top half of his body. when he had wiped most of it off his front, there were a few large scars, and multiple little ones. The small ones looked like they were probably the result of Matt being clumsy again, but the larger ones didn't look like accidents.

As gently as he could, he rolled Matt over, only to find there was more make up on his back than there was anywhere else on his body.

There was one scar though, not even the makeup could conceal.

The one that he was sure was the cause off all this pain.

It was massive, running all the way from his shoulder to his hip, it was ragged and red.

Francis shook his head, trying to clear it.

Not being able to take it anymore, he carefully rolled Matt back over and covered him in his blankets. Kissing his forehead, he whispered his good-bye and left.