Warning: I do not own Hetalia

But I do own this fic so like,,, hell yeah

Also warning for my terrible French but like I really have to get better at the language so I'm writing that entire bit myself even if I'll probably get the entirety of the former French empire to hate me


"You'll do well, Matthew. I'm proud of you." Arthur said to Matthew as he walked the younger back to his house in Ottawa. Even though the Canadian was trying to contain his emotions, the Brit could see how happy he was. His happiness was also reflected by the people scattered around the city. He could see children running around with bright smiles on their faces, their parents following behind them whilst talking excitedly amongst each other. He could see people raising up the Canadian flag happily, and the people surrounding the flagpoles cheering. He frowned slightly as he watched one of the flags go up, however; he couldn't help but think of America as he watched. He shook the thought away quickly, though. This wasn't about him, this was about Matthew.

The blonde in question nodded as thanks as they neared his house, smiling softly. "Thanks, Arthur. It really means a lot to have your support. And for you to even agree to this in the first place. I... I honestly, thought you wouldn't, after what happened to... Him." Both Arthur and Matthew knew who he was referring to, even though the Canadian didn't have it in him to actually say his name.

"It's fine, Matthew. I'm over Alfred now. I just underestimated him when he told me he was ready to leave." Arthur responded, stopping outside Matthew's house as he unlocked the door. "I hope I'm not overestimating you."

"I won't let you down, I promise. My government and I have been working really hard to get ready in the following days leading up to this," Matthew explained, glancing up at Arthur and smiling once he'd opened it. "Would you like to come in for a while? I can make tea."

"It's fine, dear, I have to get going anyways," Arthur said, smiling a little in return. "My king wants to speak with me anyways, your leaving the empire caused a lot of extra work on our part."

Matthew's smile faded at that, biting his lip "Wait, really? Then maybe we could-"

"No no, you don't have to do anything." Arthur interrupted, chortling. "We had to deal with the same thing when America left. You're fine." He waited until Matthew nodded before continuing. "Well, I'll be taking my leave now. You'll grow up to be a great nation, Matthew, I'm sure of it. Don't ever doubt yourself over that."

"I won't, I promise," Matthew said, nodding "Thanks for everything, Arthur."

"It was my pleasure." Arthur said with a nod, beginning to walk off. He stopped himself and turned around before Matthew could disappear into his house, though. "And er- Good luck on your independence, Canada."

Matthew simply nodded in return, watching Arthur vanish into the crowd of his people celebrating their newfound freedom. He smiled as he watched people walk up and down the street with huge grins on their faces, cheering and clapping. Matthew briefly considered going out and celebrating with the rest of his population, but quickly decided against it. He was still as happy as everybody else to be free, probably even more, but he really wasn't that much of a people person. He'd much rather watch everybody than join them.

The first thing Matthew noticed once he made it inside his house was a bouquet of brightly coloured flowers on the table right next to front door. He smiled curiously, gently picking it up and trailing a finger alongside the petals. He identified the different types of flowers used in the bouquet quite quickly; wake-robins, northern blue flags, marsh blue violets and mayflowers. The provincial flowers of all four of his provinces, he noticed.

He realized after a minute or two of admiring the plants that there was a card neatly buried inside of the bouquet, covered by the heads of the flowers. he gently set the flowers down, opening the card. He instantly recognized the neat yet difficult-to-read cursive handwriting inside the note as Francis', which made him smile even wider than before.

Cher Matthieu,

Félicitations sur ton indépendance, mon petit lapin! Je suis très fier a toi. Tu as grandir beaucoup par le petit garçon j'ai trouve dans le forêt ce jour là il y a longtemps, c'est encore plus difficile pour moi à croire que tu est une nation maintenant! Je promets ça très bientôt on peux recontrer et rattraper. Je t'aime beaucoup, mon petit. Bon chance en tant q'une nation!

- Francis

Matthew sighed happily, rereading the note a few more times before setting it ontop of the flowers. It had been a while since the Canadian had seen the Frenchman, come to think of it. He needed to write back to Francis soon, he decided, nodding as if it confirm it to himself. He missed him a lot, it would be nice to see him again. Who knows, maybe Francis would even give him some pointers on how to be a nation-

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a knock on the door, however.

"Already? But I've just gotten home... Surely Mr. Mcdonald doesn't know I'm home already..." Matthew muttered to himself, opening the door. Any smile he had left from the note immediately washed away as soon as he saw who was on the other side.

"America." He greeted coldly, giving his twin a blank look. The word sounded unfamiliar in his mouth, it wasn't a word that he liked to associate with his brother. But things had gotten rough between them recently, too rough for Matthew to even consider using his human name.

Alfred, on the other hand, looked surprisngly nervous. He tried to smile when Matthew opened the door, but it instantly fell when he heard his brother's voice. It was unusually sharp, nothing like how soft and sweet it sounded the last time he spoke to him.

"Canada." Alfred addressed him back, frowning as he said it. It seemed he didn't like using that word, either.

Matthew kept staring at him blankly as he fidgeted with his hands, raising an eyebrow. "...Did you have a reason for coming here, or did you just come to stand in front of my house awkwardly?"

"Huh- Oh, of course I had a reason for coming here! Duh. It would like, totally be awkward if I didn't." He said, laughing awkwardly. When he realized that Matthew's expression still hadn't changed-Aside from looking even more annoyed with Alfred than he was before-he coughed. "Um... Can I come in?"

"..." The Canadian hesitated for a second, glancing behind himself into his house. It would probably be rude to reject him, wouldn't it? "Fine. But be quick."

Alfred muttered a thank you and hesitantly walked inside as Matthew stepped out of the way, closing the door behind them. He gazed around the small entrance area for a second, trying to look distracted by the (bland and minimalistic) furniture and decor as he thought of what to say next.

"So..." He started, finally looking back at Matthew, (who still had that annoyingly effective disapproving look on his face) "You're independent now, right?'

"Yes. I am." Matthew answered curtly, nodding. "Arthur signed the documents a few days ago. I just arrived home."

"Ah, I see." Alfred said, adjusting his glasses anxiously, "Congratulations. I'm um... I'm proud of you."

"Thanks."

A moment of silence. Then, Matthew spoke again. "Why don't we go into the living room? I'll make tea."

"It's er- It's fine. You know I've never really liked the stuff." Alfred muttered as they walked down the small hallway.

"I guess I forgot." Was all his brother replied, sitting down in the armchair once they made it to the living room. Alfred sat down on the couch across from him.

"How did you get your independence?" Alfred asked, avoiding Matthew's gaze and looking around the room. It was as bland as the entrance, he noted, but the walls were painted in a nice, deep red. Almost the exact same colour of his twin's flag, if not a bit muted from age.

"I asked." Matthew said, glancing out the window at the people celebrating. "I asked, and Arthur agreed it was time for me to leave."

"...You're joking. You just asked?" Alfred repeated, giving Matthew a look. Matthew frowned, nodding.

"Yes, America, I did." There was that annoyingly unfamiliar word again. "Why is that so surprising to you?"

"It's just- It's just that I had to fight a war for my independence." He said, frowning as well, "And you just had yours... handed to you?"

"I wasn't just handed my independence." Matthew said, sighing "I earned it by being a loyal member of the British Empire."

"But England still gave it to you without any fighting or conflicts or anything. How could you have earned it if you did nothing to earn it?" Alfred instantly regretted asking it. Even though Matthew was clearly putting on a poker face, he could see the other's eyebrows flinch in hurt.

"Just because I didn't fight for it doesn't mean I didn't work hard for this," Matthew said, standing up. "Now if you've come here to just mock me, you may leave."

"Wait- I didn't mean it like that," Alfred said quickly, standing up as well and holding his hands out in front of him. "I promise I didn't. It just came out wrong." Matthew stayed silent, just glaring at Alfred. The American took that as an indication to continue.

"I'm sorry, I just- It was just weird to see you get your independence so passively. Especially since I really thought England would go as hard on you as he did me. I guess I was also a bit jealous when I heard about what happened..." He explained, sighing. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm really proud of you Cana-" He stopped himself "I'm proud of you, Matthew. Genuinely. Not just 'cause my boss told me I have to be or anything, I really am."

He paused, waiting to see if Matthew had anything to say. The taller's eyes widened curiously as Alfred kept talking, but he didn't say anything. So Alfred continued.

"I'm so sorry for everything I did to you these past few years... It was uncalled for, I know. I wasn't even thinking of you when I told my government about my ideas, I was thinking more of England and how your land still technically belonged to him. I guess I was hurting you trying to hurt him."

Matthew still stayed silent, quietly sitting back down. He noticed how Alfred occasionally paused in the middle of his sentences, as if he was thinking. The Canadian could tell that he had written this down and rehearsed it earlier. He cared that much?

"And- And I'm so sorry for the fires, and the fighting, and- And I'm sorry that when we were younger I ignored you a lot while studying on how to be a nation and self-relying and stuff and- I'm just so sorry that I've really just been an awful nation to yours. And an even worse brother." Again, Alfred waited to see if Matthew said anything. Again, he didn't.

"So um- Anyway, I'm really proud of you as I said before..." He muttered, getting a small box out of his pocket. It wasn't wrapped, but it had a red ribbon tied sloppily around it in an attempt to make it look like a present. "And um- I wanted to get you this, since I noticed a while back you had a lot of trouble figuring out what words and pictures and stuff were from far away. They might not be perfect, but uh- They'll probably be close enough for now." He explained, putting the box down on the table and sitting back down on the couch.

Matthew hesitantly took the box, gently pulling the ribbon off and opening the small case. Inside were a pair of shiny rounded glasses. He carefully took them out of their case and held them closer to his face to examine them. The rims were painted red with a silver bridge, he realized.

"Al- America, this is a nice gift, but I really don't think I need glasses." He said, about to put them back in the case. "Thank you, though-"

"Just put them on, Matthew." Alfred interuptted, leaning forward in anticipation.

The taller blond sighed and falteringly put them on, blinking a few times as his eyes got used to the change. To his surprise, Alfred was right. Looking around, it was much easier to see the people outside his window or the few paintings on his walls. He spent a few minutes curiously looking around, not realizing that Alfred was smiling slightly to himself as he watched his brother 'discover' sight.

"Well? They work, right?" He asked finally, making the Canadian jump.

"I um- Yeah. They uh.. They do." Matthew said, blushing out of embarrassment and sitting down. "...Thank you."

"You're welcome." He said with a smile. Then more silence. After a minute, Alfred found the courage to speak again.

"So um- Matthew- Canada- Whatever I'm allowed to call you, I really want to be close with you again. I miss having you around." He admitted, sighing. "Remember how close we used to be when we were little? I really miss that... And uh- My boss really wants our countries to be on good terms too, so uh... Yeah," He coughed awkwardly, "Would you be okay with becoming closer again...?"

Matthew thought for a moment. Even if he didn't want to be closer to Alfred for himself, he knew that America the nation was very powerful, even though it was rather young. He was sure his boss would be extremely happy to know he was forming relationships with them, and probably even more pleased to know he was fixing his relationship with his twin...

"...Sure. Yeah, I'd- I'd like that." Matthew said, trying to sound as professional as possible. Alfred nodded a little, but didn't say anything, as if waiting for Matthew to say something else. He then realized that he himself was waiting for him to say something, too.

"And um- I forgive you... Alfred. And I'd really like to be closer to you too, actually... I've kinda missed you as well." Alfred smiled, getting up and holding a hand out for his twin. Matthew took it, smiling shyly. "Thanks for the glasses, again. But genuinely this time. I didn't really mean it earlier."

"Well that's just because you didn't know how amazing they were before," Alfred teased lightly, walking back to the door. "Why don't we go outside and walk around for a bit? I guess we can like, try catching up and stuff while walking. Also it's like, been a while since I've seen your country actually peaceful and not in the middle of a war, I really wanna look around."

Matthew chortled lightly, nodding and following along. Normally he would say no, but today was a special occasion. "Alright, I suppose just this once. There's not much to do here, though..."

"I'm sure you're just being modest, Matthew. You gotta be strong 'nd confident to run a nation!" Alfred said, opening Matthew's front door with his back and holding it for his brother. The taller nodded as thanks, taking a deep breath when they got out.

"And I know I've already said this like, two times before, but I'm real proud of you, Matt. Congrats."

"I know.. Thank you, Alfred."


word count : 2578
WOW THIS IS A BIG ONE-SHOT HELL YEAH I DID SOMETHING GOOD
WOOP THIS TOOK A WHILE TO WRITE

French translation : "Dear Matthew, Congratulations on your independence, my little rabbit! I'm so proud of you. You've grown so much from that little boy I found in the forest that day long ago, it's still so hard for me to believe you're a nation now! I promise that very soon we can meet and catch up. I love you, my dear (it directly translates to 'my little' but it can also be used as a term of endearment) Good luck on becoming a nation!
all you fluent french speakers are allowed to roast my french skills in the reviews

anyway, hi. i was looking through my favourite fics and i found one called 'What If' by AuthorReinvented (it's really good check it out!)
anyway, the first chapter is about 'what if canada didn't need his glasses and they were a gift from america for independence day?' and i was like 'omg that's actually really cool... would it be rude of me to make a one-shot off of it'

In hindsight I should've asked before spending 3 hours on this. yeah i totally should've asked what am i doing.
i really hope they don't like get mad at me for using their concept oh crap if you're reading this dude i'm really sorry-