Thanks to Related to Moon, Sideshow Cellophane 26, Bibi02846, comwiz and SansTheLanguage218 for reviewing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.
Chapter 11: Another Sister
Canada sighed when the meeting was over. He had been caught between a few arguments of Czech and Liechtenstein, which was actually surprising. He wondered if he should do more research on those two's relations.
Just as he was about to leave, he sensed a presence behind him. He turned around and his stomach dropped.
France.
"Salut, Mathieu," France said. "Do you mind if I speak with you in private?"
Kumajiro gave a warning growl, but there was nothing else to give Canada reason not to speak to the elder nation. Canada nodded his head, and he followed France out of the meeting room, and towards one of the unused offices.
France rounded on Canada, looking unusually serious.
"Why are you avoiding us?" France asked.
Canada hugged Kumajiro tighter.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Amérique has been inviting you to eat with us, but every attempt you turn down. Pourquoi?"
Canada swallowed.
"Well, Alfred wasn't really inviting me," he said. "More like forced…"
"But why did you turn him down every time?"
Canada flinched.
"Well, I-I already told Scotland, Wales and Ireland that I would eat lunch with them yesterday," Canada said. "And dinner. And Netherlands technically asked first today."
"Well then. Do you have plans for dinner?" France asked.
Canada swallowed, before he shook his head. On the lunch dates, he had been involved in the conversations. Others asked for his opinion. And he didn't want to be with England, France and America if he would only be ignored again.
"Bien," France said. "Then you can accompany us."
"N-non," Canada said. "I just… want to go to my room and relax. Alone. Please."
France's eyes narrowed, and Canada spotted a rare anger in those blue eyes.
"I don't see why you make time for nations that aren't your family," France said. "And I don't know why they're suddenly paying attention to you. I hope you realise that they're using you. Yes, that must be it. They're using you."
Canada was hurt by France's words.
"I thought you'd be happy that I was making friends," Canada said.
"Mathieu, those nations aren't your friends," France said.
Canada shook his head, taking a step back.
"You're wrong," he whispered, before he turned and fled.
He wasn't watching where he was going, and he soon collided with a figure shorter than him, sending said figure to the ground.
"I'm so sorry," Canada said, trying to wipe the tears away before he extended a hand to help the other.
His eyes widened when he saw Monaco, who accepted his hand without a word of anger. She was watching him closely.
"Mathieu," she said once she was on her feet, "what's wrong?"
He shook his head, allowing more tears to fall. She sighed, pulling him close.
"Please," she said. "Tell me."
"I can make friends, right?" he said without thinking.
"Of course you can. Who says otherwise?"
"Francis."
She narrowed her eyes.
"That doesn't sound like him," she said. "Could you tell me what happened?"
"He was asking why I hadn't been eating lunch with him, England and America for the last two days," Canada explained. "And I… I had other people asking me to lunch. And Al never actually asked me to lunch, and…"
"Shh," she shushed. "What did he say?"
"He said that those other nations were using me and that they aren't my friends."
She scowled, and she gestured to him to sit down against the wall. He wanted to protest, but she had plopped herself down already.
"Don't listen to him, d'accord?" she said. "You are sweet, kind and caring. A little introverted, but very polite. I don't see why you can't make friends. Now, who have you been having lunch with?"
"Yesterday Scotland, Wales and Ireland invited me," Canada said. "And Netherlands, Ukraine and Australia accompanied us. Today it was Netherlands again, with Belgium and the Czech Republic."
"I'll admit that Czech is a little surprising," she said. "And have you been speaking to anyone else?"
"Oui. Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and even Macau."
"Liechtenstein's a good friend, and so is Macau," Monaco said, nodding in approval. "Tomorrow is a European Union meeting. What are you going to do?"
Canada sighed.
"I don't really want to see America," Canada said, hugging Kumajiro tighter. "But yeah. What can I do? I don't want to spend the whole day in my room."
"Why don't you ask Australia to do something with you tomorrow?" she suggested. "You said that you've had lunch with him. And he's not a European nation."
Canada smiled.
"That's a great idea," he said. "Merci, Monaco."
"It's no problem," Monaco said. "What are sisters for?"
Canada widened his eyes in surprise, and she chuckled.
"Did you think that I don't see you as my petit frère?" she asked. "Even if you're taller than me."
He smiled, and the two of them walked back to their hotel rooms together.
…
Wales had been listening to Canada and Monaco's conversation, hidden in the office next to them. He had only gone in to sort out his paperwork when he heard… that.
He felt angry at France. The other was Canada's father figure, and he dared to say that the nations that Canada could call friends were only using him? And what had France and the others been doing? They ignored Canada and made him cry.
Wales still couldn't get the Canadian's face from the previous day out of his head, and he had promised himself that he would do anything in his power to prevent that. And he could hear the tears in the other's words.
If France was ruining their hard work…
Wales left the office, on his way to his hotel room. He would also need to inform Scotland and Ireland about what he had heard.
He stopped when he noticed Ukraine, and he was once again curious about her relationship with Canada. So he decided to speak to her about it.
"Hello, Ukraine," he said, and she jumped at the greeting.
"Oh, you're one of Matvey's uncles, right?" Ukraine said.
"Yes. Um, might I ask about your relationship with Matthew? I just want to know something."
"Matvey is a very good friend," she said, her cheeks tinting pink.
Wales's eyes widened. Did she…?
"You want to be more than friends, don't you?" he asked.
She looked startled, and there were tears in her eyes, and before Wales could react she ran away.
He was left looking after her, perplexed. It would seem that Canada was more popular than first anticipated.
But exactly how popular?
I wrote this long before Brexit, and so the UK will be at the EU meeting. It's actually important that they're there.
