Throwback

by MedicalNonsense

Be careful what you say around people who have flashbacks, you might get more than you bargained for. Too bad for Matthew, Gilbert is one of these people and he wasn't always such a "nice" guy. What is a man to do when his lover of 5 years goes postal?

10. Which To Bury Us or the Hatchet

Over 100 comments… TT_TT I love you guys, you make me so happy! Also, sorry this one took me so long to do, oh well, happy birthday Alfred J You're an idiot sometimes, but at least you're a nice guy.

()()()()()

Which To Bury; Us Or The Hatchet

"I think you know what I'm getting at
I find it so upsetting that
the memories that you select you keep the bad but the good you just forget
and even though I'm angry I can still say
I know my heart will break the day
when you peel out and drive away
I can't believe this happened
And all this time I never thought
that all we had would be all for naught
No, I don't hate you
don't want to fight you
know I'll always love you
but right now I just don't like you"-Relient K

()()()

A little over an hour had passed and Dr. Stoughton had indeed returned to do his final assessment before leaving. Prussia was due to have his lesser stitches removed at eight o'clock that evening. But, Canada had yet to return from his early dinner leave. It weighed on Prussia's mind too. Perhaps he had lied and left him… Why would that matter though? The way Canada spoke made it sound like he had no choice but to return to him.

Still, Prussia couldn't help but wonder what the hold-up was, "Lazy Canatian." he grumbled, feeling the onset of boredom as he had long finished his food. Standing, he paced around the room, growing more and more irritated with the passing minutes on the clock. "Grr! Vhere de fuck ist he?"

()()()

"Sirs, can you please take this outside?" The staff of the cafeteria pleaded to the three blondes standing in the middle of the room. The largest of them gave no answer and merely stood his ground, smiling innocently. The other two, they could possibly have been twins, ignored the staff as well, one of them fiercely glaring at their "enemy" the other just looked stern and worried.

"Ya have no reason t'be here! Leave!" The more energetic of the twins yelled.

"Oh, but, I do. Zere is someone here I need to take care of, da."

"Not if I have anythin' t'say in it!" The same twin put up his hands as if to fight, he already had a black eye from earlier, having been whacked quite violently in the face with a tray.

"Alfred, we can't do this here." Twin number two told his brother. His brother looked to him and looked back to their adversary.

"Where d'we go then?"

"Outside?" the smaller looked to the giant and jerked his head in the direction of the door. "These people have nothing to do with this Ivan. Let's clear this up outside."

"But, who I have to deal viz is not outside. He is in here. Vhy vould I go avay from my target, da?"

"Ivan, you are in my rink, you will listen to me."

The huge, purple-eyed individual seemed bored and looked off at nothing for a second before suddenly pulling a faucet pipe out of his large coat and flipping it around his hand, "Alright, comrade." he said with a cheery smile, all the men and women in the cafeteria backing away at first sight of the lead pipe.

The three fled the room and regarded each other in the back parking lot of the hospital. Matthew sighed and looked Russia up and down. He had no idea what Russia wanted with Prussia this time, but it obviously wasn't anything good if that pipe was any indication.

"Okay Russia, why are you here, eh?" the Canadian asked, giving Russia a chance to speak before Alfred opened his huge mouth again.

"To take care of a small problem." Russia answered simply.

"And that would be?"

"You call him 'lover'." Matthew felt his blood boil at the way Russia spoke. It was as if he were insulting him for falling in love. It seemed Alfred was about to say something, but Matthew shut him up with but a single look.

"At least I can get a willing one." he hadn't been able to help himself, it just slipped out.

"Am I making you mad little comrade?" Russia taunted, flipping his pipe around his wrist again.

"Russia, you cannot expect me to take your invading me well."

"Who said anyzing about me invading? I am only here for the freeloader." Russia was beginning to drop his pleasant mask.

"He's not a freeloader. What do you want with him anyway? He was released from your hold a long time ago."

"On the contrar-"

"Can we jus' shut up an' fight?" America enthusiastically broke through, ready to go ape-shit on Russia's ass. Russia narrowed his eyes at America and looked between him and Canada. He clearly hadn't been expecting a fight upon arriving.

"Perhaps… Anozer day. I vill give you time to zink on it comrades. You vill eizer give me my property or face de raz of mozer Russia." Smiling cheerily, he turned and left, a ominous feeling being left behind as he did. Both of the North America brothers visibly relaxed and looked to one another.

"What was that about?" Matthew asked, drained from merely having to be near Russia.

Alfred sighed and motioned for him to follow, "I will tell you inside." He threw Russia a parting glare over his shoulder before leading his brother back into the hospital.

Once inside, they were given a few looks by staff and customers, but no one questioned since the main problem hadn't returned inside with them.

"Okay, my boss won't tell me what's goin' on." Alfred began, speaking in a hushed tone. "He has told me, however, we are going to piss Russia off somethin' fierce. Pretty much the whole world is."

"My boss told me not to leave Prussia unattended… It's obvious Russia really is angry at him about something. Do you think this is the same deal?" Matthew asked, wondering what the whole world had to do with Prussia.

"Yes, apparently it's all of our jobs to keep Russia at bay for as long as possible. Unfortunately, you're supposed to be th'only one of us that knows what's going on… We're protecting Prussia from somethin'. Of course, you don't even know the reasonin' why… What do ya thin' our bosses are plannin'?" Matthew shrugged, very rarely did their bosses keep such vital information from them. But, there was little a nation could do about it as their purpose was to advise and serve their bosses.

"I don't know… Have they started sending troops anywhere?"

"I don't have many t'spare right now, so if he starts sendin' them somewhere else, I won't be able t'keep track." Alfred reported, regretfully. "But…" Matthew looked from his twiddling fingers back to him. "You can bet this is somethin' big if our bosses won't tell us what's goin' on." The nations nodded to one another, this had to be true, so rarely their bosses hid anything from them. Sadly, it did little to alleviate their curiosity and made Matthew worry for Prussia up in his room.

"Alfred… There is something I have to tell you…" Matthew figured that he might as well tell him. He would need the support at the meeting on Thursday. Most likely the entire world was going to want to talk about the state of affairs between Prussia and Russia anyway. "It's about Gilbert."

Sensing what was coming, Alfred frowned and took his brother's hand "I'm so sorry Matt, y'know, I know it's not often, but, y'know it is possible for me t'not like being right sometimes, right?" he gave a sheepish smile while his younger brother just stared at him.

"What in the world are you talking about, eh?"

Alfred flinched a little bit, uncurling his fingers from Matthew's ever-so-slightly, "Uhm… Has Prussia been cheating on ya?"

"Non." Matthew replied with a dead tone. He only wished that was what was going on… Okay, no he didn't, but at least he would know how to properly react to that.

"Oh… Well, then… Uhm…" The American took his hand back and smoothed out his hair, a nervous chuckle filling the space between them, "What was it y'wanted t'say then?"

"Gilbert has… Uehm… Amnesia?" America just sat there and stared, putting a hand up to his chin in thought.

"Y'mean like… Like in th' movies?"

"Euh, somewhat… He only has most of his memories intact until the end of World War One…"

"That's fuckin' cool…" Smack! "Ow! What was that for?" the American yelped, rubbing the back of his head while putting his glasses back on.

"Not cool, Alfred!" Matthew stood up and glared down at him. "He doesn't remember me. Very not 'cool' you idiot!" They were attracting attention again, but at least this time they were just showing usual brotherly tensions.

"So, you're sayin' he doesn't remember that y'two are s'posed to be in love? Or something like that?" It was never okay to think of his little brother in love with that caveman. It was never okay to think of them engaging in relations either, or even accepting the fact that they could have been doing that. Prussia with anyone was not okay.

"Yes, Alfred. He doesn't." Matthew sullenly sat down and Alfred began to think that maybe he should be having better thoughts about the man. The point was his brother was in love with him and Matthew was suffering because of it. Was now when he actually got to play big brother to Matthew and he would appreciate his efforts? "What if Kiku didn't remember anything that you two have been through together, eh? What would you do then?"

"I would… I would, eh… I would still be how we always are. He would get the picture sooner or later." Matthew just stared at him, honestly believing his brother incapable of a single intelligent thought. "Oh, c'mon, that doesn't mean I'd rape the guy or nothin'-"

"Keep your voice down." the Canadian hissed lowly, casting the cafeteria and hospital staff a panicky look.

Alfred sighed, "Anyway, the point is, I would just show him how much me means to me. How much I love him…"

You don't exactly do a good job of that now Alfred… Instead of saying that, Matthew preferred, "Kiku is a softie at heart, Al. Prussia… He didn't even admit to feeling emotions like romantic love until the wall dropped. And to go further than that, Germany was the first person to hear that Prussia loved anything, period."

"Your point is?"

"Prussia doesn't love. Not yet anyway. He barely understands kind feelings considering the stage he's at right now…"

"How in Hell did y'ever fall in love with him in th' first place?" Alfred quirked an eyebrow,

"If Prussia's incapable of lovin' an' all…"

Matthew sighed and roughly rubbed his face, "I fell in love with Gilbert. Not Prussia."

"There's a diff'rence?"

"Sure there is… I'm surprised you never noticed the difference between Kiku and Japan…"

"No, there is a difference between those two. But Prussia is only Prussia."

"Because you don't know him. Prussia is pretty much… Well, he's vile and rude and loves to kill people and torture them… Gilbert…" Matthew smiled and sighed thoughtfully, "Gilbert is rude, a little bit narcissistic, but he's loving, he loves me… And, of course, I love him…" The Canadian looked away and thought it rather amazing that Alfred had nothing to say to that. "By the way, thanks for arriving when you did… Did your boss tell you to head up here?"

"Yeah, he said you were expecting a visit from Russia and your boss wanted someone up here to help incase he chose to make a personal visit." Alfred reached up to feel his bruising face. When Russia had made his entrance he had tried to knock Matthew out cold with a lunch tray. Too bad for him Alfred had been there to intervene and take the blow for him. "But, why did you get off on the earlier subject?"

"Oh, right, Prussia doesn't know who he is, we can't bring him to the meeting on Thursday, you should know that."

"Well, he seems to be important right now, we can't really leave him out. Everyone will wonder where he is. There is also the matter of that he has to call himself in…"

"The chances of him doing that when he's this bored are slim to none. He wants to see everyone." Matthew stood and folded his arms over his chest, getting antsy about returning to Prussia. "I want to keep him away too so we won't have to talk to Russia."

"That shouldn't be much of a problem Mattie, pretty much everyone but Russia is on our side."

"I still don't want him seeing Russia this early. I don't think you really unders-"

"Calm down Matt, really!" Alfred sprang to his feet and slapped his brother heartily on the shoulder, "Bring Prussia to the world meeting and we'll all protect him. If that red bastard tries to lay one finger on your pretty little albino's head, I'll nuke him myself." Matthew felt a blush working at his face, he wasn't sure if he should be mad about such a threat or happy that Alfred seemed so accepting of his worry over Prussia. This could have possibly been the only time so far Alfred had been supportive of Matthew's love.

"Uhm… Thank you Al… That's… That's really sweet of you."

"What're big brother's for, eh Mattie?" The older blonde embraced his little brother closely. "But I gotta get back ta Kiku soon. He'll begin to wonder where I am. I kinda just disappeared on him and all!" Matthew didn't comment on the fact that Kiku probably no longer wondered where he was and just smiled. "If y'need anythin' at all, like, ever, jus' lemme know!"

"Of course, Al." One last hug and America departed the hospital. Matthew's stomach growled and it occurred to him that in all the madness he never got to eat anything. Shrugging, he figured Prussia could wait another few minutes while he waited. It wasn't like the man was exactly eager for his return anyway.

()()()

Looking up to the clock again, Prussia idly played with his gown, it had been two hours since Canada had left. There was no word in the English language that could adequately express the sheer boredom he was feeling. And it was only near six o'clock, he had two hours more to wait before getting his stitches out and he didn't think he could live without stimulation for that long.

Grumbling, he thrust himself to his feet and began to look around his room again. He pulled open a few cabinets and poked around in them. Not finding anything the least bit interesting, he closed them and started pacing again. How did humans stand this?

They all must live extremely boring lives… There was a knock at his door and he glared daggers at it as it slowly opened. A blonde head slipped into the room and seemed alarmed at first when the bed appeared empty. Walking the rest of the way into the room Canada looked over to the albino and jumped.

"Oh, you scared me G-er, Prussia." Prussia quirked an eyebrow and Canada closed the door behind him. "Sorry, I took so long, there was a massive line downstairs."

Prussia shrugged, "Vhy voult I care how long you vere gone?"

"Because you don't like being alone."

"Who zays?"

"You did." The albino's brow furrowed angrily and he turned away from Canada, heading back for his bed to sit down. "Are you sore at all?" "Liddle bid. De docdor zait I cahn ged zome of my schtidches remooft lader totay." Prussia sat down and got himself comfortable, fighting back a wince as something poked at one of his stitched-cuts.

"Oh, the doctor came for a visit?"

"Ja. I dink he vas a fag. Ahzkt if he coult zee me vidoud my clodes on."

Matthew sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, maybe he would have preferred to deal with Russia over Prussia's stupidity and dramatics, "He needed to see all your cuts and most of them are beneath your clothes, Prussia." the other just snorted and ignored him. Needing some sort of stimulation, and figuring that Prussia wouldn't mind a good joke, Matthew smiled, "Now, if he were gay and were harassing you…" Matthew took a few steps towards Prussia, gaining his attention, "He would have asked to check for a hernia," the Canadian's hand floated just above Prussia's groin, getting him a warning glare, "Or he would have asked for a prostate exam." Matthew poked part of Prussia's butt and got his hand smacked away. He chuckled, "But since he didn't, it's safe to say that he was a doctor doing his job."

"If you zay zoh. You know dis veirt place bedder dan I do."

"Did you just admit I knew more about something than you?" Matthew blinked questioningly at him.

"Vhat of id?" Prussia asked, suspicious.

"Nothing, it's just funny considering you're you." Silence overtook them and Matthew chose to take a seat, pulling a book from nowhere and beginning to read.

"Cahn I schtill do dat?" Matthew looked up from his book to Prussia, what had he asked? Seeing the questioning look on Matthew's face, Prussia groaned and pointed at the book, "Cahn I schtill do schtuff like dat?" Confused, Matthew looked at the book and thought about how he had gotten it.

"Oh, when you're in the eastern part of Germany you can."

"Oh, goot."

"Hungary can still pull her frying pan from nowhere regardless of where she is."

Prussia let his tongue hang out to express distaste, "Sches alvay been veirt."

Matthew chuckled, "Says the albino that thought she was a boy."

"Hey, sche nefer acdet righd, I hat de righd to dink sche vas a boy. Bezites, Schpecks doughd Italy vas a girl fur a long time."

"I heard that he used to wear dresses all the time." Matthew said with only slight interest, returning his attention to his book.

"No vonter Westen ust to dink he vas a girl too." It was offhandedly said and quiet resumed between them. Really, Matthew didn't find it too much of an issue that they seemed to have nothing to talk about. He had no true desire to talk to Prussia and he was only currently hanging about him because Russia appeared to be on the outs with him. That was what made Matthew curious, had Gilbert done something to him recently that he hadn't been informed about? Usually, whenever Gilbert had done something out of line or got in trouble, he and Germany were the first ones to hear about it. Germany would have said something to him and he hadn't been informed of anything as of late so what could it have been?

Opening his mouth and turning to Prussia to ask him if he knew anything of Russia, he found that Prussia was no longer among the waking. He had fallen back asleep, his face serene and relaxed. Matthew sighed and leaned back in his chair, just waiting for the man to start masturbating again.

When he didn't start, Matthew sighed and looked to the clock, it wasn't even seven o'clock yet… Oh well, the nurses would wake him up when they came in to remove Prussia's stitches. Yawning, he nestled himself into the chair he was in and fell asleep too.

()()()

"Stop squirming, eh." The nurse removing Prussia's stitches chastised. Prussia just snorted and continued to resituate himself, regardless of how difficult he was making the woman's job. "Sir, please. I can't take them out if you won't sit still." Grunting irritably, Prussia finally settled down and watched the woman work. It was rather strange to him that she used a blunt pair of oddly-shaped scissors to relieve his skin of the unattractive-looking threads. Wouldn't it make more sense to use sharpened ones? Something told him this would have been a stupid question to ask and so he refrained.

Finishing the three healed cuts on Prussia's arm, the nurse reviewed the note doctor Stoughton had left her and moved on to the few on Prussia's chest. She wondered if things like this happened all the time given the copious scars that covered the albino's skin. Maybe he was in the army? Or perhaps he was a stuntman? He certainly was attractive enough to be in the movies, if only he had a better personality.

Sighing, she looked back to the note, his other arm only had deep cuts on it and their stitches were to be removed tomorrow. She cringed, however when she saw where she had to remove the next set of stitches.

"Sir," Prussia looked to her, his face flat with boredom. "can you please move the waistband of your boxers down? I need to remove the stitches at your hip."

The albino smirked at her and did just that, "You know, dey coult keep moofing if you only zait de vort." he quirked his eyebrow at her, his smirk widening to an attractive, crooked smile. The nurse coughed loudly off to the side and there was a noise from the sleeping Canada's direction.

"Hmm? W-What, eh?" Matthew looked tiredly around, his eyes settling on the nurse and a very irritated-looking Prussia. "What's got you bent out of shape now, eh?" he asked groggily, sitting up and cracking his back as the nurse got to work removing the stitches from Prussia's groin area.

"Noding." Prussia replied in a deep, dangerous voice that made the nurse jump. "Vhy don'd you goh back to schleep?" A white eyebrow twitched and Matthew looked to the nervous nurse and a certain hardening something near her hand.

Now, his first reaction was outrage, making him stand up, however, from his better perspective he saw she was but removing stitches. She had probably woken him up on purpose.

"It would be rude of me to fall back asleep."

"Id voult be efen ruter to schtay avake now."

"I think the young woman here has had enough of you harassing her." Matthew's eyes settled on the softening bulge in Prussia's boxers and his friend grumbled. The nurse sighed audibly and finished the set, asking Prussia to tug his boxers back up, which he did.

Consulting her note once more and moving right along to Prussia's legs, the nurse said not a word. Prussia just continued to glare at Matthew and the other nation sat down, regarding him solemnly.

()()()

It was about ten after nine by the time all the assigned stitches had been removed.

"Prussia, why must you harass anything that has a pair of breasts?" Matthew asked, leafing through a magazine that had been laying around.

"I belief de qvesdion ist, vhy don'd you." Prussia poked the button to turn the over-head TV on, curious about what there was to watch in a hospital.

"Well, three things go into that. One, I respect them, they're people too, two, I'm committed to someone else, three, I'm gay."

"De only rezonable anzwer I zee in dere ist dat you ahre gay." Tipping his head to the side, the albino poked another button and skipped to a different channel.

Matthew made an amused noise, "Reason why you didn't have a meaningful relationship until quite recently." he flipped to another page. Urh… Maybe he shouldn't have said that. Strangely enough, Prussia didn't inquire and just continued to fiddle about with the television. "You're not going to find anything good on. The only things they have in the hospital are soap operas and the news channel."

Prussia looked to him, "News?"

"Local most of the time. The only news of any interest to us is the world news and most of the time we already know what's going on." Matthew looked up at the sound of Prussia madly pressing the channel button, quirking an eyebrow at his strange interest. "What are you doing?"

"Hoping you ahre wrong aboud vheder or nod dey hef vorlt news hier." Prussia kept clicking until he seemed to come upon something that interested him. "Hey, I fount zomeding."

"Oh? What?" Matthew stood and straightened out his clothes, walking over and sitting in the uncomfortable chair next to the bed. It wasn't like the channel was live or anything, it was just going over world events of the last few days.

"I ditn'd know Westen und Italy hat poor trate relations." Matthew blinked, he didn't know that either… Did something happen? Reaching out and turning it up he listened to the news report with interest. "Ist dis zomeding new?" Prussia looked to Matthew questioningly, seeing him nod he turned back to the television and listened as well.

According to what the report was saying, the two nations, after some misgivings on Italy's part and some misunderstandings on Germany's, Germany was setting up a short-lived trade embargo until the whole mess was cleared up. Unfortunately for both of the nations, there was no benefit to be had for either of them. On the personal level of Ludwig and Feliciano, something had finally broken and Germany was right pissed about it.

"Vhat dit de liddle fag do to Westen?"

"It's complicated and I don't have the whole story. They've been having some ongoing trouble for a couple months. I guess Italy finally did something very stupid."

"I doughd you zait dat Westen loft Italy."

"Well, he does…" Prussia looked at him for a moment, his eyebrow climbing up his forehead.

"Und? Dere has to be more to id…"

"I don't even know the whole story myself but… After making amends after the second world war the two chose to enter a relationship with one another-"

"Be faggods?"

Giving him an annoyed glance, Matthew sighed, "Yes, 'be faggots'."

"Jus' checking."

"Right, anyway, they entered a relationship. A very loving one at that I assure you, but Italy got dreadfully sick a number of months back…" Now was where Matthew was unsure of the story, things had been admittedly murky when Ludwig told him about the problem, he had never even gotten him to tell him the full extent of the problem and hence was unsure of it. "They just haven't had the same relationship since."

"Vhat vas dis… 'zickness'?"

"It wasn't some sort of STD if that's what you're thinking."

"Ez-tee-dee?" Prussia questioned, dubious about this strange word.

"A sexually transmitted disease."

"Oh, und noh, dat's nod id. I know ve cahn'd tranzmid dizeazes betveen ourzelfs und humans. I vant to know vhat de zickness vas caust by." He honestly wanted to know the politics of it? Well, that was a funny thing about Italy's sickness…

"We don't know. He just suddenly came down with flu-like symptoms. Said he didn't want Germany to catch it since it didn't appear normal, so he told him to stay away… He got better two weeks later and he seemed normal, but somehow he hasn't been the same according to Ludwig."

Prussia was pensive, his brow furrowed in his handsome way in thought. It wasn't often this face came, each time Matthew was graced with it it made him want to take pictures of it for lonely nights. Unfortunately, every time he brought out his phone or something to do so Gilbert would look at the camera with a face of "was" and would totally ruin everything. However, he was honestly giving thought to the problem, it would have been out of character if this Prussia were not as serious as he was. He had some of Gilbert's whimsicality (clearly) but he was somewhat more of a no nonsense version.

"I cahnnod zay vhat id coult hef been. Schpecks hat zomeding similar vonce, bud he vas no dif'rnd afdervorts." Well, that was new information. Why hadn't Gilbert told him about it? Maybe he had encountered it again sometime in the unknown area of Prussia's memories and therefore dismissed it as something that didn't matter. Or maybe Gilbert just hadn't wanted to say anything to his brother or him…

"Really? Austria did?" While Prussia still thought it relevant, Matthew was going to try, "What was it like then?"

The albino's eyes floated to the ceiling as he thought, eventually they stared off at nothing as he found himself lost in memory, "Ja, id schtardet aboud two veeks before de schtard of de Bruderkrieg, he vas… Fery irridable fur de firsd veek. Den, fur anoder veek he hat fomiding und hyschteria. He schvedet und grippt ahd de scheeds of his bet und moant ahz if he vere hefing sex. Bud obfiously more painful den dat." a pause as he collected his thoughts again, "He schreamt dings I ditn'd unterschtant und… I dink id vas von of de few times zeeing him miserable ditn'd make me heppy." He was so far off in his memory that he seemed mesmerized, he was standing next to Roderich's bed as he panted, moaned, screamed in the throes of his waking nightmares brought on by his sickness.

Matthew didn't want to say anything for fear of breaking his concentration on the memory. He jumped when Prussia eventually sighed and rested his head back on his pillow, "Ve doughd he vas going to die acdually. Id vas zoh bat… Bud, he god bedder, und vhen he dit, he vas schtark, rafing mat. De var began direcdly afder dat, acding ahz if none of id hat efer happant."

"Are you sure the sickness wasn't brou-"

"Noh, id vasn'd how he normally reacdet to schtress. Dis vas zutten und sefere efen if it coult hef been linkt to schtresses before de var, none of dem vere dat bat."

"Unexplained nation sickness… Well, let's hope Italy didn't give it anyone else. It might actually hurt one of us… Germany said Italy has been different since recovering, so I guess one of us already had been."

"I doubd id's de zame zickness. Deutscher Krieg vas in 1866. Too close fur id to hef any relation." Prussia waved him off and went back to watching the news. Though, it was of less interesting content by then. As he watched, Matthew debated with himself upon whether or not to mention this to Germany. Sure, his problems with Italy were none of his own business, but after being so rude to Germany he could afford to at least give him some new information. In the end, he chose to send it as a second video file tomorrow if Ludwig didn't pick up for his report again. And if he did, hey, he could always slip it into conversation afterwards, somehow.

"You tired at all?"

"Noh. Goh back to schleep. You're irridading."

"How?"

"Your foice ist angering." Canada quirked his brow at him, they had just had a serious talk a few minutes ago and he was back to not liking him.

"I really wish you would make up your mind?"

"Make id up on vhat?"

"Whether or not you're going to like me."

"I don'd. Dere."

Canada sighed, "I don't think you seem to get it. You said 'what are friends for' earlier. If you don't like me, you can't call me your friend."

"You're nod, I jus' doughd id zuidet de momend." Prussia shrugged and started ignoring him in favor of the television.

"You can't use sayings like that if they don't apply to us."

"Okay den! Ve're freunds! Vhat vill id take to schud you up zoh I cahn vatch de damn news?" Matthew blinked at him for a second, astonished.

"You're sending me some damn mixed-signals here. Why can't you talk like-"

"Because I don'd vant to talk righd now!" Prussia cut the blonde off, his anger beginning to flare into his eyes. By the tensing Matthew could see, the albino was going to get physical if he kept pushing him. So, how about a more calm approach as Matthew didn't want to re-injure his finally, completely healed face.

"Okay, Prussia," Matthew started calmly, "honestly think for a second. Other than to get me to shut up and leave you alone, why did you say we are friends?"

"Because you ahre a nation und de only von arount like me, dough ahre nowhere near ahz awezome. You are schtupid bud kint und you ahre amuzing ahd times." That had been surprisingly easy…

"Oh… Then why do you find me annoying?"

Prussia stared at him for a bit, his scrutiny so harsh Matthew felt like squirming beneath it, "Efryding aboud you ist annoying. I'm unsure vhy, bud you ahre." The twinkle of distain entering Prussia's gaze told the Canadian that there was something that wasn't being said. It made his skin crawl to think of what could have been going within the man's head. It made him slightly fearful too. It seemed most of Prussia's inner ideas about him were anything but pleasant.

"How… Nice to know your opinion of me." he replied nervously, feeling his guts slipping away from him.

"Awezome istn'd id?"

"N-Not exactly what I'd call it."

"Vhat dit you zay?" Prussia hissed and Matthew timidly backed away, dipping his head slightly before responding, "N-nothing."

"I zoughd zoh." his "friend" sniggered to himself, knowing he had successfully cowed him. "Now goh zid ofer dere und leaf me alone."

"O-Okay." Getting up from his chair, Matthew fled to the more comfortable one away from Prussia, snuggling into it and wishing he had Kumajirou with him. Maybe he would be able to get Gilbird from Prussia's head, but the bird was long asleep, comfortably nested in Prussia's shock of white hair.

Giving Prussia one last longing look he turned away and took a deep breath, repeating internally his new mantra for night "don't cry". The released breath was decidedly shakier than what he was going for. It hadn't been that long and he was already losing it. Losing what exactly? The last thing beneath all pain and suffering in Pandora's box, hope.

()()()

Shifting in the chair, Matthew was not yet ready to face another day of Prussia, not yet ready to face any day actually. It was just a bad morning for his mood. Moaning tiredly and fixing the glasses on his face he had failed to remove the night before, he sat more upright in the chair, feeling warm skin brush his. Humming with curiosity at first, he opened his eyes and looked down at the man expected. Prussia was sitting on his knees on the hard tiled floor, his front end (his head sitting atop his drool-coated arms) was sitting next to Matthew's thigh in the chair.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Gil." Matthew said with a sigh, playing with his lover's hair while being careful not to disturb the sleeping bird that was looking fuzzier. "At least we get to leave today." He twined a lock around his finger, smiling at the way his hair shone. Gilbert's hair was so beautiful, his whole self was beautiful, oh God how he missed simple daily touches. In fact, he was pretty sure he missed playing with Prussia's hands, running his fingers through his hair and tiny kisses more than he missed having sex. And he missed having sex a lot. "I still love you, you know that right? I mean… I'm not sure if you'll be back soon or not, but if you ever do come back, I'll always love you." Of course he kept his voice quiet and he stroked the shining silver hair some more. "You probably would think I'm being stupid. Already saying things like that when you haven't been gone for a week. Well, I'm sorry, I guess I can't live without you for that long." A small giggle escaped him when he imagined what Gilbert would have said to that. "Yeah, you're just that awesome… I'm a little bit of a wuss too I guess…"

The man beneath his fingers stirred then and he quickly took back his hand sitting it in on his legs, watching Prussia struggle into consciousness.

"Vhat in… Vhy ahm I," Prussia looked up and made eye-contact with Matthew before hatred distorted his beautiful features and he thrust himself to his feet. "Vhy ahm I ofer hier?" the growl was dangerous and made Matthew curl up just a little bit.

"I-I'm sorry. I woke up and you were already there. I swear I didn't do anything…" There was a tense moment as Prussia glared down at Matthew, deciding whether or not he was truly innocent.

"Vhatefer." he snorted and turned around, cracking his back. "Mein Gott." He cracked it again, making a satisfied noise before stretching. "Vhere ist de damn docdor? He zait I vas gedding oud of hier totay und my cuds ahre ahll healt."

"Be patient, Prussia." Matthew mumbled, standing up from his chair and feeling the state his stomach was in. Damn, he was hungry… "I'll be back soon, I'm going to get myself some breakfast."

"Vhat aboud me? Efer doughd dat-"

"I'm not in charge of your food. You can wait for the nurses to bring you something, eh." The blonde wasn't having any of his nonsense this morning and simply left, leaving Prussia to stare after him.

"Jerk." Prussia hissed, stepping over to his bed and sitting down on it. With nothing better to do, he examined his conscience, it was pulsing low-grade irritation, but mostly grogginess. Grunting that he could somewhat agree with it, he plopped back onto his bed and stared at the tiles on the ceiling, wondering what they were made of. He wondered what a great deal of things were made of in here, actually.

As he stared, he heard the door open, sighing irritably, he sat up and looked at the person making their way over to him. It was the strawberry-blonde doctor Stoughton making his morning rounds. Maybe he could get him some food.

"Good morning, eh." The doctor greeted, yawning into his hand. Most likely he had just arrived to the land of wakefulness as well. "How're you feeling?"

"Cahn I ged dese oud?" Prussia motioned to the now unneeded stitches in his skin and the doctor looked him over.

"Yes," he said with a satisfied tone, "I will send a nurse in here to remove them. After some paper work has been sorted through you should be all good to leave, eh." Prussia grinned, he couldn't wait to leave this place. When Stoughton turned his back to leave, marking something down on Prussia's chart, Prussia asked, "Cahn I hef zome foot dis morning?" The doctor stopped and looked at him over his shoulder, whatever he had been thinking about prior must not've been too flattering because of the contempt that had worked its way into Stoughton's eyes. "Sure," he said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'll send someone in for you soon. Have a nice day, eh." With that, the doctor continued his retreat from the room, closing the door after him.

"Vhat vas his problem?" Prussia shrugged and turned the television on. Drat that there was no news on, but what was this strange thing happening on the TV… Someone sweeping a broom in front of some large, sliding rock… People were all yelling at one another as they slid effortlessly down what looked to be an ice floor (which Prussia thought impossible, given that it was March). Sweeping and screaming, the stone slid onto what looked to be a giant bull's-eye, many other rocks currently occupying the space it was headed for. The sweepers stopped sweeping as the rock slammed into the other rocks and knocked a few that were of a different color off the bull's-eye… People cheered at this strange happening and Prussia tipped his head to the side curiously. At least he had found something to watch that was interesting!

()()()

When Canada returned to the room, he couldn't help but stop and stare. There was Prussia, on the bed, stitches half out with his nurse sitting next to him. No, that wasn't the weird part, the weird part was that they were both staring at the screen with a look of intense concentration. What the hell were they doing? Figuring that he should investigate, he made to walk over to them but nearly had a heart attack when they both simultaneously said "Damn it!" (or "Damn id" in Prussia's case).

"You schtupit dumbarsch!" Prussia started.

"How could you miss that, eh?" The nurse finished angrily. And then Canada knew exactly what they were doing.

"You're watching curling aren't you?" He asked with a smile and Prussia looked over to him.

"Dat's vhat id's callt?"

"Yep, fun game, eh?" Prussia nodded curtly before looking back to the screen with the nurse. Gilbert was a fan of curling too, except usually when they watched he was even more enthusiastic and he had a beer in hand that sometimes stained the couch. For a man like him, one would figure him more of a rugby guy or pro-wrestling, perhaps boxing. But no, he liked curling, didn't care much for hockey, but he watched it for Matthew's sake and of course he loved the timeless classic of soccer. Lord only knew what was going to happen when Prussia discovered the only sport Gilbert ever grew fanatical about. "Nurse?"

She looked over to Canada questioningly.

"Shouldn't you be removing his stitches instead of watching curling?" She jumped and started to blush along with some stuttering. Canada lifted a hand and waved, "It's alright." Nodding, she began to remove the last remains of Prussia's stitches, all the while dealing with Prussia's yelling at the television and movements.

And, of course, once all the stitches were out, the three of them sat there and watched the conclusion of the match. Much yelling and gesticulation ensued.

The door opened amongst all this and the doctor looked in to find the three of them just having a gay old time, "Nurse." The woman jumped again and looked over to regard him with some level of fear. "What are you doing, eh?"

"Uhm…"

"Slacking off?" The nurse started stuttering again, her face turning red as she quickly gathered up the things she needed to throw away.

"Oh, c'mon Rick, we asked her to watch with us." Doctor Stoughton quirked his eyebrow at Matthew, he was sticking up for her? "Be that as it may, she should have refused, eh." The nurse continued to scramble around finishing up her duties before leaving the room. "So, hello all. How're we all feeling now?"

"Panzy, leaf de room. Ve're vatching a game." Matthew smacked Prussia's arm giving him a look of "behave" before he looked over to Fredrick. It was odd that Frederick hadn't mentioned to him earlier that he was Prussia's attending doctor. Prussia shoved him away and concentrated on the end of the game.

"Hello, by the way." Matthew said, looking back at Prussia for a moment.

"Hello, Matthew." Prussia looked up at the familiarity in his voice, not the least bit trusting of any human that talked to a man they knew to be a nation in such a way. At least earlier the doctor had called him "Mr. Beilschmidt" why didn't he extend at least that same courtesy to Canada by calling him Mr… What was Canada's last name again? Hm… Prussia supposed Canada had never told him, anyway, it didn't matter, the human didn't have the right to call him by his first name, what a shady fellow. "And hello to you Mr. Beilschmidt, ready to get out of here, eh?"

Prussia snorted and looked at him, "I tolt you, id's Prussia." he narrowed his eyes at him before slowly turning to look back to the television.

"Right, Prussia…" Stoughton winked at Matthew and Matthew found himself blushing. Did he think Prussia was insane or something? That might have hindered their ability to leave if the doctor thought him mentally unstable. Which, he was, but not in the way the doctor might assume.

"I zaw dat. Vhat vas dat z'post to mean?" the nation looked back to him, his eyes narrowed again, something wasn't right here.

"Nothing, nothing." Stoughton laughed, waving him off. "Mr. Prussia, you should be all set to leave in about an hour. See, you didn't even have to wait until noon, eh."

"Vhy're you talking dat vay?" Prussia pushed the television aside and stood, staring at him.

"I'm going to ask you to please sit back down, sir." Stoughton took a few steps back and Matthew regarded Prussia with curiosity.

"You know id's impolide to refer to a nation by name… Vhy do you do zoh hier vid Canada?" Frederick looked back to Matthew for support, a look of "what's he talking about?" on his face.

"Gilbert, sit down and shut up."

"Noh, he knows!" Prussia turned back to Stoughton and hissed, getting into his face, "Vhat ahre you hiting?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, eh!" Frederick backed up, fear and confusion alive in his eyes.

"Gilbert! Sit the hell down!" Matthew inserted himself between Prussia and Frederick, staring down into the glistening red orbs. The pair stood there and stared at one another for a good two minutes before Prussia eventually spat into Matthew's face and sat down on the bed, crossing his legs and glaring at Frederick.

Sighing, Matthew wiped the saliva off his face, turning to regard Frederick and trying to ignore the glare at the human.

"I'm sorry, he's… Really overzealous at times. It's just a bit worse because he hit his head, you see." Stoughton nodded hesitantly, looking around Matthew's shoulder to Prussia before looking back to him. "Just uhm… Forget that ever happened?" Matthew gave him a sweet, nervous smile.

"It's all good… I'll uhm… I'll alert the front desk that you'll be checking out soon, okay?" Matthew nodded and Frederick left as if he had dogs biting at his heels.

Now was what Matthew had been dreading, he rounded on Prussia, fury very alive in his eyes, "What was that?"

"He really does know, Canada. He's hiting id."

"Human's don't know we exist!"

"Dey vill if you keep yelling." Prussia said, obviously past wanting a real fight. Taking a deep breath, Matthew sighed and tried to calm down.

"Alright… The only humans that know of our existence work for the government. Not these poor town's folk, okay? Frederick probably think's we're both totally nuts now." Matthew massaged his forehead in despair. He was going to have to alert someone to this if someone hadn't already been watching. And if certain parties had been watching he was going to be pissed as he told them private matters between Prussia and he were off limits.

"You know him?" the albino asked, interest coloring his voice.

"Yes, I met him at a night club around here." I think that's where I met him anyway… It was true Matthew was still very fuzzy on where exactly he had first met Frederick, it was possible he had met him at the same place… He shrugged it off, it wasn't important.

"He knows ve're nations. Und he's hiting id from you. I voult zuggesd dat you keep an eye on him. You nefer know vhat he coult vant from you."

"He's human, even if he did know."

Prussia shrugged, "De vay you hef referrt to gofernmends, dough few times, you make it zount like dey holt your balls in dere hants." Now that Matthew thought about it, they basically did. But, it was a nations duty to advise his government, not lead it. "Noh rezponze?"

"Prussia, you don't even know what the world is like now. You don't know anything."

"I may nod remember much of vhat you vant me to, bud I am noh itiot." Matthew nodded in agreement, he couldn't exactly argue with that. "Und I zay dat Frederick guy istn'd telling you efryding you schoult know."

"Prussia, drop it. He's a doctor in this relatively small city."

"Vhatefer you zay. Bud don'd come crying to me vhen he fucks you ofer." Nothing further on the topic was discussed and they moved on. Moved on as in, they got what little crap they had together (Canada had had the sense of mind to grab a set of clothes for Prussia before leaving the house yesterday). He gave the clothes to him and Prussia slipped them on, not bothering to button the top few buttons the on the white shirt. So it had always been a thing of his not to. Hm, didn't tuck in his shirt and never bothered to button all the buttons. Oh well, it wasn't like they were at a meeting or anything.

Oh, damn, the meeting tomorrow. Matthew moved his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose in thought. Well, even though it wasn't how he did things, he realized what he was going to have to do. His ass was just going to have to go flying by the seat of its pants the whole meeting long. It was certainly going to be fun.

()()()

Not wanting Prussia to figure out exactly how to get back to the house, once in the car (and when Prussia wasn't paying attention as he was busy examining said car) Matthew stabbed a syringe with a small amount of M99 contained within into Prussia's bicep. He didn't even have enough time to feel the pain before his head whacked into the dashboard of the car, totally unconscious.

On second thought, maybe he shouldn't have used something so powerful, but hey, he wanted him out. Although, he probably was going to get beat up for it later in retrospect… Oh well, he was the one with the syringe.

()()() Finally back at the house (Prussia slung over Matthew's back) the Canadian deposited the albino on the couch as he continued to snooze away. Looking to the clock he discovered it was only noon on yet another rainy day. Well, he had only cleaned that one room and perhaps it would be good to do a bit of dusting as the house hadn't been used in a terrible long time before they all had arrived…

Smiling at deciding upon what to do, he found his usual handkerchief, tied his hair back, put on his rubber gloves and apron before finding his duster and getting to work.

It was quite surprising to him that he had put off doing battle with the dreaded dust bunnies of the various book shelves for so long. Usually the first thing he did upon arriving at this house with Gilbert was clean it. Nobody liked a loving and romantic evening ruined by constant sneezing and unexplainable spots on the wall. This would also be a good time to take stock of the books that had gotten blood on them now that it he thought about it.

All at once he was a magical tornado of clean, nothing of filth, unsanitary particle or allergen was left standing by the time he had made his way to the other end of the room. Every surface of wood (including the floor, even the grotesque black spot) was practically sparkling. One would think this Germany's home if they didn't know any better. It made Matthew giggle, he had everything Germany did, practically. An old house with new things here and there among the traditional ones, pets that loved him (or at least depended upon him), sparkling clean wood, a fool who made a mess of a lot and a certain freeloading albino they loved. However, in Matthew's case, the trouble-maker and the freeloader were one in the same. Oh, but it had been but one room! There was more joy to be had elsewhere in the house! And once he had finished everything with wood flooring he could take out the vacuum! Hm… Maybe he wasn't totally finished with the room though, the fireplace was filled with ashes from the other night and doubtlessly some ashes would escape and he would have to dust and sweep this room once more. No problem!

"Kein Problem!" Matthew merrily chirped, remembering how Gilbert had mocked him once when describing the joys of cleaning to him. Scurrying off to the storage room, he pulled out a large tarp and laid it out in front of the fireplace before grabbing the ash shovel from the rack next to the opening. Quickly scooping and shoving the ash out of the place onto the tarp he made quick work of it all. Gathering up the corners of the tarp, he flung it over his shoulder, almost laughing as some puffs of grey escaped the open parts. Deciding upon a place to dump it, he walked into the front room to see Prussia sitting up, wow, the M99 wore off quick. "Hey there sleepy head." Prussia looking up, he knew he probably shouldn't have said anything because it took mere milliseconds for red-hot anger to boil up into the frightening red eyes. "Uhm… I have a tarp full of ash so can thi-"

"Ragh!" The Prussian tackled him to the floor, sending a veritable mushroom cloud of ash into the air (it was also an effective smokescreen). The smokescreen effect was lost however as Prussia already had his hands around Matthew. They rolled and tussled on the floor, both of them constantly working to be the one on top. Prussian fists struck out at the Canadian body and missed every time as both parties were actually quite blind and most of this was just random flailing about and sneezing in the heavy cloud of grey. "Holt de fuck schtill!"

"Stop trying to punch me, eh!"

"Noh!" More strikes and rolls over on the dusty ground flew up even more ash making things all the more difficult. Now, during all this, Matthew had somehow or another managed to get Prussia into a headlock and he was violently flailing for release.

"Ha!"

"Oh yeah?" Prussia did a quick side-roll and flipped Matthew over his shoulder so the Canadian was laying on his back, prostrate before Prussia, him looming over the boy's head. As the ash settled down over the rest of the room and in their hair, they stared at each other for a long few moments, neither totally sure about what the fight had been about. But the trance was quickly broken by Matthew getting up and with a playful smile, tackling Prussia back to the ground. "Hey!" And now a new fight began. This one a mere parody of their previous one. Laughs and grunts were a part of this one as well as playful quips on the Canadian's part. Prussia merely responded with his usual insults and attacks, not actually aiming to hurt him this time.

Well, all this carried on for about ten more minutes until the chuckling ball of testosterone went careening into a doorframe. Okay, the albino knocked his head into a doorframe, but hey, details, details. Prussia sat up and rubbed his head, sneezing and coughing a little bit at the inhaled ash.

Matthew chose this moment to look about the room, some things were knocked over from their roughhousing but nothing had been broken, of course. The biggest thing though was all the ash on everything. Sure, yes cleaning was fun, but when you had to pick up every last little thing sitting around and clean it off, it was then irritating. Sighing, Matthew stood up and scratched his head, wondering just where in the room to start.

"Wow, vhat a mess." Prussia commented, standing up as well and brushing some filth off his white-now grey-shirt (which of course didn't accomplish much). "Hef fun." Prussia slapped Matthew on the shoulder before shaking some more of the ash from his hair and walking into the kitchen, tracking it all behind him. Typical man… Matthew did little more than smile and locate the vacuum.

Feeling lucky that the ash had been far enough away from the couch to avoid covering it completely, he used his duster to sweep as much dust as he could off the surfaces in the room (without saying, pictures and little curios atop the main display shelves in the room would have to have special care taken on them later).

Just as he got the vacuum fired up and he began to undo some of the chaos, Prussia walked by, a sandwich on a plate along with a glass of ice tea that Matthew wasn't sure had been brewed. And shit that he didn't see the cord. It was all in slow-motion… Prussia getting his look of "oh fuck" on his face, the sandwich flying off the plate and the tea slipping out of the albino's hand. The glass contacted the carpeted floor and didn't break (as was expected), but the sweet liquid inside swiftly assaulted the carpet with brutal efficiency. Oh but what of the sandwich? Prussia looked up to see it coming back down and thought fast. Doing a move similar to the worm, he wiggled forward and caught the falling sustenance in his teeth with a proud grunt. Standing up he grinned haughtily to Matthew before taking a bite and looking very proud of himself indeed.

Matthew just stared at what was going to definitely be a new stain on the carpet. Turning off the vacuum he looked straight at Prussia.

Noticing the man's look, Prussia jumped, more out of surprise than anything, "Vhat?" There was no answer and Prussia found a chill arching up his spine. His conscience was absolutely terrified… "Hm, I dink I vill goh-" "Get a rag and clean it up."

"How aboud-"

"No. Get a rag, clean it up. The Nature's Miracle is underneath the sink in there."

"Bu-"

"Prussia!"

"Okay!" And the albino quickly fled to the kitchen to retrieve what it was he was ordered to, stuffing the rest of the sandwich down his greedy gullet. Returning with his two items, Matthew was already vacuuming again, had ran over the tea with his vacuum in an attempt to remove the ash from over it so it didn't grind into the dark-colored carpet. Grumbling, Prussia got onto his knees and pressed the rag into the carpet, absorbing the tea right quick but a darker spot still remained and he looked at the strange bottle he had been told to use. Opening it and dumping a little of the clear liquid into the carpet, he began to scrub. It got to the point where he was doubled over, examining the spot, it was difficult to tell if the carpet was still stained or if it was just wet. It went without saying as he did this his butt was just up in the air.

Matthew had to stop vacuuming he was so distracted. What a nice, round ass he had. Even if it were Gilbert instead of Prussia, he never had the guts to do anything remotely near smacking it. Though, it wasn't as if the thought had never crossed his mind. He just had never been too keen on finding out what the albino's reaction would be.

Prussia suddenly started chuckling evilly and wiggling his butt. In actuality it was just because he thought he finally had the stain beat. Matthew was just sexually beside himself though, Prussia had no idea what he was doing to him. Looking down he grimaced at the erection forming in his pants, it was mocking him it was! Unfortunately, he couldn't just leave the filth be so he just hoped Prussia wouldn't notice any time soon. So, to avoid this, he picked up his pace with the vacuuming until his back was to Prussia.

"Does dis look clean to you?" Prussia asked and Matthew sighed, well, it was bound to happen before too much longer anyway. Or maybe he could prolong it just a little bit longer. He looked over his shoulder at the stain that Prussia stood over.

"It's clean." And it was, thank God it wasn't something that needed to be really examined. Hey, wait a second, where'd Prussia go? Matthew's head whipping around the room for any sign of him, he quickly grew irritated. He completely buggered off! "Prussia! Get in here!" A loud chuckle came from the upstairs and Matthew knew he wasn't getting him down to clean for all the five dollar whores in the world.

Closing his eyes and envisioning happier times, Matthew sucked it up and got back to cleaning. Gilbert usually never helped him clean anyway. Even after their food fights (or any other whimsical fight they had) he never stuck around to clean. Hundreds of bad things happened to him in his life and never learned to appreciate a good clean house. Finally opening his eyes he tried to find the joy in cleaning this mess; but thinking about the rest of the house that still needed to be cleaned without Gilbert to relieve him later, all it did was make his back ache.

()()()

A dull throbbing started after a solid hour of cleaning. Matthew groaned and rubbed the small of his back, Prussia sitting on the couch in the book room and watching television. He figured he was also drinking a beer and quite possibly ruining the upholstery on the couch. That room still needed a once through as well to clean up the remains of the ash upon initially cleaning it. Walking out to the front porch, he jumped off it and headed to the side of his house where the compost pile was, dumping (hopefully) the last vacuum container of ash into it.

A few things back inside still had a light dusting on them, but he brought those into the kitchen and cleaned them with a rag over the sink. A picture of Francis and he, another of Alfred, Arthur being subdued under his arm as Alfred grinned, flashing the peace sign. China and Korea were even present among this collection of pictures, right next to Cuba eating a cone of ice cream.

As he cleaned, Matthew began to find it odd that he never displayed pictures of himself and Gilbert together. He had a picture of Gilbert, a picture, a candid one he didn't know that was being taken. Picking this copy of it up off the pile of things yet to be cleaned he contemplated it. The actual picture was at his home in his office, but it was the only picture he had of Gilbert that wasn't on any of his cameras.

He was sitting back in a chair on the front porch of the house in Ottawa, a cigarette dangling lazily from his mouth as he stared off, lost in memory. The sky was painted in bursts of reds and oranges, purples in darker places, typical of late sunset. Frowning, he put the picture down after cleaning the dust from it and pulled a bag of weed from his back pocket. Staring at the bag he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Smiling slightly, he took a large bowl out of the cabinet and started warming up the oven. Now, to ask the real question of day. No, it wasn't whether or not to completely forget about cleaning for baking; but, in fact, it was, brownies or cookies?

()()()

Why was there no sound of cleaning? No vacuum, dust or groan? Damn, just when he was considering intervening. But, he didn't like being alone. Might as well just go see what he's doing. Prussia stood and straightened out his clothes, this was definitely an endeavor worth pursuing. And what the fuck?

Shaking his head he left the room, staring back at it, there were too many poetry books in there he decided. Did Canada even read poetry? Shrugging he walked into the kitchen, finding a pile of framed photos stacked haphazardly on the table and Matthew using an eggbeater on something in a bowl.

"Vhat's dat?" Matthew stopped and looked over his shoulder to him, looking especially feminine with flour smeared on his cheek. His eyes dropping to half open, he looked back to his bowl and kept beating it, reaching out with his other hand and throwing a fistful of green into it… "Ahre you baking zomeding vid veed ihn id?" Matthew nodded and kept beating. "Vhat ahre you making dough?"

"Chocolate-chip cookies." Tweaking an eyebrow, Prussia walked over and stuck his finger into the mixture, "Hey!" Matthew wrenched the bowl away from the greedy man and glared at him. "What do you think you're doing, eh?"

"Tasding dem." Prussia replied shamelessly, licking the mixture off his finger.

"They're not cooked yet."

"Zoh?" He reached again to put his finger back, Matthew making a face of wondering where exactly his head was at. Backing away with the bowl again, he turned off the egg beaters and laid it aside. Prussia's face darkened as Matthew gave him a challenging look. Prussia just snorted and grabbed Matthew's arm, yanking him forward and bashing him in the head with his own. Wrenching the bowl out of Matthew's arms, Prussia chuckled "Kesesesese", dipping a finger into the bowl and licking it clean again.

Matthew, dazed and confused on the floor, rolled onto his side wondering just what in the world had happened. Staring blankly at the space beneath the table, he felt tears drip from his eyes as Prussia just continued to "kesesese" to himself and eat the cookie dough.

"Ah… Ahre you crying?" He asked, stopping mid-suck of the finger. When he received no reaction, he knelt down next to him and watched the tears silently flow down his face. A dull throb started in the back of his conscience, a throb of guilt that stimulated pain in the back of his head. Shaking it off, he offered the bowl to Matthew who took it and pulled it close.

Suddenly, as if Hungary had appeared, a sharp pain smashed into the side of Prussia's head. Flooring him next to Matthew, gripping madly at his hair but sealing his mouth shut against the pain. Matthew sat up and stuck a finger into the bowl, putting a bit of the dough into his mouth and sitting the bowl back on the counter as Prussia writhed on the floor.

A sudden breath wracked his frame and Matthew knelt down next to him, rubbing his head as he ground his head into the floor. Memories couldn't be helped, but at least he wasn't remembering as much as the other day. He didn't have the nerves to deal with the screaming and violent thrashing. One final breath and Prussia went limp beneath him, oh, damn.

"Prussia?" Matthew gently shook his arm. "Prussia? Gilbert?" He shook him again and dragged him off the ground, turning him over onto his back and laying his head in his lap. His eyes were closed and tears had gathered at their corners. "Are you awake?" The red eyes slowly opened and he sat up, staring listlessly at the tile floor.

"Dey vere ahll zoh… How coult dey…" He seemed incredulous, looking back at Canada. "Vhy dit dey… Dey schtarft… Vhy?" Matthew gathered that Prussia had remembered some part of the naval blockade of Germany after the war. What surprised him though, was that Prussia cared about the state the humans were in, perhaps he was hungry too as he watched the humans go about their struggles.

"What did you exactly remember?"

"I vas valking arount, bruder hat been draggt ovf fur a meeding, I vas eading an ent of breat und ahz I vas valking, dere vas dis girl laying ihn ahn alley, sche vasn'd really looking ahd anyding ihn pardicular, jus' schtaring. Her eyes flickt up to de breat I hat ihn hant und I schtoppt… Sche jus' schtare't…" Prussia stopped and sighed, rolling his eyes at the memory, "I zaw sche vas schtarting to cry zoh I valkt ofer und I gafe her de breat. Sche zmilet ahd me und took id. Dat vas dat, I schtoot und valkt avay, my schtomach schtill hurding." Well, that still didn't explain why he was so nice to a human. Perhaps it was because she was young?

"How old was she?"

"Ten, elefen ahd de mosd." Matthew nodded, it had to have been because it was a child that had asked. The start of his sentimentality… Suffering as the humans did. Taking a deep breath and sighing he sensed Prussia was now in a bad mood, perhaps he too could benefit from some "medicated" cookies.

"How about I finish these," Matthew stood. "and we can drink some beer with them when they're done." Prussia stood too and looked down at him asking, "Vhy voult ve do dat?"

"Because it will make you feel better…"

"Who zait I vas in a bat moot?"

"Aren't you?"

"Noh, vhy voult I be?" Prussia grinned, strangely unaffected by such a depressing memory. Maybe he truly was out of touch with his emotions…

"Most people would be sad after that."

Prussia blew a raspberry at him, anger entering his voice, "Do I look like a liddle panzy Canada?"

"Maybe you are capable of pity."

"Pidy ist fur lozers."

"Which you were at the end of World War One." Prussia growled and snatched a picture frame from off the table and threw it at him. Matthew ducked and the picture sailed into the window above the sink, shattering right through it. Spitting at him, he turned and left the room, Matthew sheepishly getting back up and looking at the broken window. Well, where was a garbage bag?

Staring at his handiwork, he folded his arms over his chest and sighed. Hopefully they wouldn't have a storm. He doubted the duct tape would hold the flimsy bag in place if that happened. Along with that, the crappy bag he used would probably have been blown out too.

Finding his broom and sweeping all the glass up to throw away, he wondered which picture Prussia had thrown. Dumping out the glass, he walked over to the table and took stock. Hm, funnily enough, it appeared that he had thrown the only picture he was in out the window. He almost didn't even feel like going to look for it. But, he went looking anyway.

It was rather easy to find given the glass and frame were shiny, but the front was cracked and the moisture in the ground had stained the picture. Furrowing his brows he stared at the picture, the cracked countenance of the ruined photo.

Might as well get used to it. Trudging back into the house, he chucked the frame and its picture into the garbage. With all the force he could muster (which cracked the bowl) he spooned out all the dough onto the few cooking trays he had sitting out and shoved two into the oven.

He picked up the bowl and examined the crack in it and groaned, tossing the bowl over his shoulder and into the garbage can on top of the picture. His eyes flicked to the clock and found it was nearly three, slowly growing more frustrated another groan graced his vocal cords and he ran up the stairs to give his report.

()()()

Still grumbling, he typed in the number and waited for Germany to respond, tapping his fingers agitatedly on the desk. When the blonde didn't pick up yet again, Matthew prepared to leave a message.

"March Thirty-first, sixth day of Prussia's amnesia, hi Ludwig, sorry, I seem to have left another message with you not around… Uhm… I won't ask about what happened as I'm going to see you tomorrow. Maybe you're sleeping or something for the meeting I guess, or whatever, I don't know.

But, uhm, yeah, your brother… He's out of the hospital, but Russia dropped by for some impromptu visit, if you know anything about what's going on please tell me. Alfred says that it's all of Europe on about something top-secret and you're all against Russia. My boss hasn't told me anything and Alfred says his boss didn't want to tell him anything other than the bare minimum. If your boss hasn't told you anything yet, I suggest you ask him what's going on that has to do with Gilbert. This is some stupid crap." Matthew paused to think, what about Prussia was there to tell? "Oh, he's found curling… Yeah, again, I kinda don't want him to find out about soccer, there will be broken things in the house, well, broken things in greater volumes. He threw a picture frame at me and shattered my kitchen window, it now has a state-of-the-art trash bag pane with a frame of duct tape. But I seem to only talk about myself. He remembers some of the depression you guys went through after the first World War. Only issue is it's all out of context for him. He doesn't really understand the suffering or why he acts the way he did. I'm beginning to think that he's a totally independent personality. But I suppose there is hope since I've noticed a slight shift in personality. He also pronounces a few words different, his accent isn't as thick, well, it's still thick, but you know, closer to the thickness Gilbert's is at.

I really don't know how much more of him I can stand, Ludwig. I'm not exactly eating my words, but… Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting, okay? Yes, I'm bringing Prussia with me so warn Austria and Hungary for me. Maybe France or Spain, but Spain can't really keep a secret so maybe just France…" Stopping to think and make sure he remembered everything he wanted to address, he nodded, "I got to go, I'm baking me some cookies. Yes, again, yes, it's that bad. Bye." He turned off the camera and sighed, this was positively miserable. It was the end of the day in Germany and it was only three in Canada, there was something drastically wrong here.

Deep breath in! "Cookies…" Standing, he closed his laptop and left the room. Oh, shit… He'd left the other two sheets of unbaked cookies unattended… Dashing down the stairs (nearly tripping) he skidded to a stop in the kitchen, Prussia flat out on the floor giggling. "You… You ate them?" Matthew yelled, what made this all the worse was the beer in Prussia's other hand and the joint in the other. This was just downright substance abuse!

Prussia didn't even answer, he laughed and looked over at him, infuriating the Canadian all the more. Well, this certainly was the icing on the cake, for the second time that day he was crying. Crying under the ache of his depressive emotions, crying out of frustration, out of hatred!

"I hate you!" He screamed down at him, "I hate you, you stupid kraut!" Matthew found it stupid he was crying and raving like this over just a few minor things that happened that day. If any of these things had happened separate days, he wouldn't have cared. But they all had to happen today. The day before a meeting that caused him enough anxiety that he could vomit.

Prussia sat up and stared at him, when Canada had spoken those simple words, his conscience felt as if it had been stabbed. The pain he didn't understand flooded into his system, but was soon covered over by outrage. This bipolar emotional change only served to befuddle him ever the more, it was difficult the understand the meaning of the first, but even harder to understand the second. What did he care if Canada hated him? Yes, he understood Canada was a close friend of his conscience, so there was the pain… But what was the anger at?

Matthew turned away from him, wiping his eyes with his sleeve and walking over to put a mitt on his hand. He checked the cookies and surprisingly found that they were done. Yanking the tray out he sat it down on a rack he had set up and waited for the cookies to cool, keeping an eye on Prussia as he sat there still in a state of confusion. The Canadian was almost glad he had nothing to say to him, it only would have made him madder and made him feel worse for saying that.

After a good ten minutes, Prussia had stood, but he still was feeling the strange cocktail of pain and anger coming steadily from his conscience. The old man was very angry indeed but was not the least bit confused as he belted out the two very opposite emotions. He supposed though he had never had a friend say they hated him before, nobody whose opinions he couldn't just blow off.

He saw Canada gingerly pick up a cookie scarf the whole thing in one bite, a second, he did the same. And a third.

"Cahn I hef von?" And suddenly the Canadian turned around in a giant whirl of anger, swallowing the contents of his mouth.

"I think you've had enough."

"Oh, come on, don'd be schtingy."

"You've abused your privileges enough today." His hand slipped back into his pocket, gripping something, Prussia backed up in case it was another hockey stick. "You don't need it."

"Und like you do?" He hissed in challenge.

Matthew's face went cherry red, "Yes! I do!" why was he so furious?

"Vhat? You neet to ged fadder or zomeding?" Prussia said with a chuckle.

"No, I need them because, guess what, my life sucks!" Feeling like a whiney bitch, Matthew elaborated, "It's obvious what you'll say to that, 'efryvon's life zucks' and you'll say something about the fact that you are dead, but! I am still alive and less people notice me! I can't tell you the amount of times in the past I thought about offing myself! How many times I've tried and it didn't work! I've tried starving myself, drowning, I've even shot myself!" He pressed a finger to a place on his head covered by hair. "But it doesn't work… Whatever force that creates us nations doesn't care about the suffering we deal with. I'm not even talking about personal things anymore… When our people fight and die, we hear them screaming, a city is destroyed and a piece of us is gone as well… They gave us no out short of being destroyed by another nation who, most often times, will not do as you plead." Matthew looked away, sniffling, "So we medicate ourselves… I medicate myself… On what, of course, you know…"

Disgust welled up in Prussia's stomach, how was he supposed to be friends with this pathetic thing? Wanting to leave his conscience wouldn't let him, it glued him to his place and begged a question he didn't find the relevance of, "Vhat aboud dis lofer of yours?"

Matthew laughed bitterly, narrowing his eyes at him, "The past week, they've been acting awful. As bad as you… I love them, but they're making it difficult."

"Zoh dat's vhat your problem hes been!" Matthew blinked, not quite comprehending the tone of 'ah-ha' in Prussia's voice. Well, he was kind of high… "You'fe been down aboud dat. Und hier I jus' doughd dat you vere alvays ihn a bat moot." Prussia brought up his joint to his mouth and gave it a good drag before passing it to Matthew. Curious about the sudden good will, he took the joint and took a deep breath on it. "Now you zee, I know I'm z'post to be vid zomevon, bud I don'd know who. Und, id hes been eading ahd me." Matthew failed to see how their situations related, but if he was going to offer an olive branch, by God was he going to take it.

"So, we both have love problems." Matthew sighed, picking up a cookie and tossing it to him. Prussia caught it and bit into it, chewing it and looking it at a moment later… Damn these were good.

"Ja, you coult zay dat." Even Prussia wasn't sure why he was being so nice, but if he wished to get cookies, he would have to be.

Canada turned his back to him again, scraping the cookies off the trays and putting them into a jar he pulled out from a tiny cabinet above the sink. And Prussia felt as if he had been struck in the gut, disappointment tangled itself into the fading hurt and anger. It made Prussia purse his lips, not even sure what set off the feeling. The next chance he got he was asking the old man what the hell he was so upset about.

Turning to leave, he saw Canada put the jar away in the same cupboard he retrieved it from. Upon arriving at the doorframe to leave the kitchen, he stopped, another question itching at the back of his mind. It was a question so full of bitterness that even left a bitter taste in his mouth. But, not willing to withhold a question that could potentially gather more information he asked it, "If your life vas zoh horrible… Ist, zoh horrible… Vhat dit dat make me?"

Matthew didn't turn to face him, he just played with the bits of flour still laying on the counter. After about a minute of thinking he answered, "You were always a bright light in my life once we met. But my lover has been the only thing really holding back my depression for the past five years. I'm hoping they'll come to their senses soon and stop acting so stupid. No offense Prussia." With that, Matthew went back to ignoring his presence, playing with the flour before deciding he needed to clean it up.

Something swelled in Prussia's chest and he felt truly awesome for a moment. Not that he didn't always feel awesome of course… Just… His conscience was pulsating it and pride over the underlying swirl of earlier emotions. If this was what the average person was supposed to go through every day while in touch with their emotion he certainly didn't want a part of it, "None taken. Bud you place too much heppiness on von ding."

"I do have other things to be happy about. But he is my Prozac." Matthew managed a smile, wiping the flour into the sink.

"Prozac?"

"It's an antidepressant."

"Oh… Who ist he?"

"I can't tell you that yet, maybe if you're a bit more well-behaved you'll learn something. Now leave, I have to clean." Prussia nodded and stepped out of the kitchen, "Oh, and one more thing," he paused and looked over his shoulder, "we have a meeting at five tomorrow morning, do well to get some sleep."

"Meeding?" he asked curiously, his brow tweaking.

"A world meeting, now-a-days we all get together to discuss issues and politics." Matthew started to soap up the cooking trays and wet them down for scrubbing.

"Bud I'm deat, vhy ahm I schtill infidet?"

"I don't know, you just always are." Oh, why not put him in a better mood still, "You're just that awesome."

"Kesesese, I zee. Ahd fife you zay? Vhen ahre ve leafing?"

"At one, the meeting is being held in Sweden's house. The meeting is at noon his time."

"Vhy de Svede's haus?"

"It's just where it was decided." Matthew shrugged and began to scrub. "Also, I'm tired of you always getting into my bed during the night, if you're going to end up there anyway, just use it."

"Fag."

"Practical." Matthew corrected, "Just do it, but if you don't, like I said, you'll end up there anyway."

Snorting, Prussia left the room and headed up the stairs to his bedroom. Matthew just took a deep breath and sighed. Everything was going to be okay, he had nothing to really be worried about… Oh, fuck, what was he saying, of course he did.

()()()()()

Notes:

Bruderkrieg/Deutscher Krieg-(Meanings are Brother War and German War) Took place in 1866 is referred to as the German Civil War and is also called the Austro-Prussian War, Unification War and Seven Weeks War, fought between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the other, that resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states. In the Italian unification process, this is called the Third Independence War.

Curling-Sorry, I couldn't resist please don't beat me!

M99-If you watch Dexter you will know what this is, a semi-synthetic opioid possessing an analgesic potency approximately 1,000-3,000 times that of morphine. Etorphine is often used to immobilize elephants and other large mammals. Etorphine is only available legally for veterinary use and is strictly governed by law.

Kein Problem-No problem!

Naval Blockade of Germany-Conducted during World War I by the British Royal Navy from 1914 onwards, in an effort to restrict the maritime supply of raw materials and foodstuffs to Germany and its allies, and is considered one of the key elements in the eventual victory of the Allied Powers. The blockade continued even after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, in order to force Germany to sign the controversial Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. Over 750,000 German civilians are said to have died from starvation caused by the blockade during and after the War.

Canada's Frustration-Ever have just one of those days where nothing goes right? They're all just small things building up and by the end of it all you feel like you just want to kill someone? Yeah…

Okay! End of chapter, sorry it took so long, yeeg, when was the last time I updated? Also, sorry for the lengthiness of the chapter, sorry to say things have slowed down a bit but hey, everyone gets to see Prussia in the next chapter muwahahahahahaha. So, thoughts on Fred? Thoughts on Russia? Any guesses what's going on in general with everything? So many subplots, reason why this story is going to have a sequel. Oi. Anyway, happy Independence Day to my American readers, I'm gonna go blow stuff up in a few hours J