Thanks for the reviews and alerts everyone! :D It is a little different though… I'm so used to writing USUK… but now I adore PruCan as well! :D I mean, I started writing this, and it went from being a pairing I was kind of okay with to… one of my absolute favorites. :D I just hope you guys continue to like it!

And sorry for the delay! I just got done with semester, so I should be able to update much more often now that school's out of the way! :D Or at least I hope… for some reason I actually have a social life now… it's so weird. XD

Anyways, without further ado, here is chapter two! Enjoy!

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Canada set his things down as he heard Prussia walking around, making random comments everywhere he went. When they had first been talking, Canada had thought that his lessons were going to take place in Prussia's house, but the odd ex-country had decided that they should do it at the Canadian's house instead. Canada had asked why they weren't going to go to Prussia's house—he didn't want to inconvenience Prussia if he was already going to be this nice—but Prussia didn't give much of an explanation. Not wanting to be bothersome or pry into his life, he let the subject drop.

"You like maple leafs a lot, don't you?" Prussia commented, pointing to a patch of wall colored orangey-red by a countless amount of maple leafs.

Canada looked at the wall with a smile on his face, then dropped his eyes, blushing slightly. "W-well, they are my national symbol. I like them. They kind of remind me of who I am I guess."

Prussia nodded, still looking at the maple leafs adorning the wall before him. "That makes sense I guess," he said. "My national symbol is… er, was the Prussian Eagle." He reached under the collar of his shirt and pulled on a chain. Hanging from the silver chain was a black eagle, its wings spread wide and its head turned to the side in profile, its beak opened in what looked like a fearsome screech. "Still love the symbol. It represents power. I mean, I used to own parts of nearly all of Europe. Hungary, Austria, the Baltic States, Belgium, Italy—hell, I even owned part of Russia! Me and Germany used to beat the crap out of everyone! I was a force to be reckoned with! Like I said, only reason I'm not a country anymore is because people thought I was becoming way too awesome!" He let himself chuckle a little, putting the eagle back beneath his clothing.

Canada stared at him for a moment, amazed by how much power he used to have. He felt inferior as he looked back on how the only reason he had even been born was because France found him. Then he had been taken over by Britain after the Seven Years War. The only reason he had become what he was now was because of Britain and how the Brit had been the world's superpower for over a century. Without him, he would have remained just a small, useless colony. As he thought about it, if Britain hadn't been there to regulate him—he couldn't call what he had done 'taking care of him' seeing as that sounded too loving for what it had really been—he would have just been taken over by America while he had been expanding from coast to coast. He bit his lip slightly as he looked down at the floor. He had only become what he was through the actions of others. He'd barely done anything on his own.

"So, what do your maple leafs represent?"

Canada jumped slightly, emerging from his thoughts and memories, not expecting the sudden question. No one had ever really asked what his maple leaf meant to him. Heck, no one ever really asked him any questions about himself in general. He was usually lucky if someone even noticed he was in a room. "Um, well," he started, scratching his head in thought, "as a nation, I try to stay neutral. I'm kind of the peacemaker of the world I suppose. I don't like fights, so I stay out of them. I don't like hurting people, so I stay calm and don't retaliate. I like to make people happy, so I try to be fair and equal so everyone can be happy."

Prussia looked him over again, looking actually fascinated. Which was something that Canada was not used to at all. "Wow," he said, sounding awed.

"Well," Canada said, looking away embarrassedly, "I mean, it's nothing too—"

"No wonder no one thinks you're awesome."

Self-esteem: Canada's had just once again been put back into its place as it was crushed underfoot. "E-eh?" he said, looking back up.

Prussia suddenly looked extremely unimpressed. "It sounds like you just let people walk all over you. Neutral? Peacemaker? Those are all synonymous of lame and weak! Which is the complete opposite of awesome! Which is me!"

Self-esteem: Canada hadn't known that it could be crushed even more. Prussia was really capable of anything, wasn't he?

"I, I'm not weak!" Canada argued. "I'm nearly as strong as America! W-well… I mean, when I want to be. It's just I don't want to be a strong hoser like him."

Prussia once again looked interested. "What, seriously?" he asked. "You're almost as strong as America? That guy's scary strong!"

Canada averted his eyes. "Yeah. I'm pretty strong. It's just I don't like showing off like he does."

Prussia smirked, making the Canadian nervous. "Well, it's time to show off," he said.

"E-eh?" Prussia suddenly began wandering around again, looking around everywhere as if looking for something. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something for you to lift or something," he answered. Canada gawked at him as he continued to furiously look around.

"B-but Prussia," he complained, reaching his hand out slightly as if to stop him. "I really don't want to."

"Aw, come on, Mattie!" Prussia chirped, flashing a smile at him. "I want to see how awesome you and your strength are!"

Canada really didn't feel like doing random weight lifting—it sounded too much like something America would do. "Can't we just start my lessons?" Canada pleaded.

"But I want to see you lift something!" Prussia whined.

For a moment, Canada was about to give up. But then he came up with an idea. "Hey, you want to be a country again, right?"

Prussia immediately perked up, flashing his gaze back to Canada. "Hell yeah!" he said with a huge smile. "More than anything!"

"Then we should just start my lessons," Canada reasoned. "The sooner I become awesome, the sooner you can become a country again."

He could immediately tell that he had struck the money with Prussia. He quickly stopped looking around and walked back up to Canada. "Okay, then," he said, a smirk on his face. "Then let's work on making you as awesome as me!"

About time, Canada thought to himself. Prussia was nearly as hard to handle as his brother. "Okay." Canada said. "Where do we start?"

Not asking for permission—though Canada supposed he technically didn't need it seeing as he was providing lessons—Prussia plopped down on Canada's couch, crossing his arms as if for dramatic effect. "Alright, first lesson," he said, his red eyes looking up to the left as if in deep thought. "To be awesome, you have to have confidence! A kind of confidence that makes everyone around go, 'Whoa! That guy's pretty damn awesome!'" He paused, eyeing Canada as if to read his expression. "And to have confidence," he added, "you need this awesome thing called self-esteem!"

The words 'Canada' and 'self-esteem' weren't often paired together. So as Prussia suggested this, Canada was rather surprised. Self-esteem? How was he supposed to have any of that?

"How do you build self-esteem?" he asked, completely unsure of how to make such a thing. Whenever he had tried to have one, he'd be reminded by America how weak and pathetic he was compared to him. Because of this, had absolutely no idea where to even start.

"It's easy!" Prussia said matter-of-factly. "Just name off some awesome things about yourself! What makes you, you?"

An immediate blank came to Canada's mind. What was there that was awesome about him? "Uhh," he said, looking down at the ground as nothing came to mind.

He felt Prussia eying him curiously, but, to Canada's relief, he continued, "Well, something like this! My name's Gilbert Beilschmidt, and I was able to beat the crap out of most of Europe! And I taught Germany all that he knows today! Plus I was a huge world power before the other countries decided they didn't like me too much. I mean, I could beat the crap out of anyone I wanted and no one could stop me! I was awesome!" Prussia almost glowed with pride, making Canada shrink as he heard all of those marvelous things about him. How could he come up with anything like that?

"Uhm, o-okay," Canada said, still looking at the floor as if it would give him ideas. "Um… I'm Canada, or… Matthew… Matthew Williams. And… um, I'm the second largest country in the world. Um… I'm really good at hockey. I mean, I can even beat America when it comes to hockey." He was especially proud of that fact—he was actually better than America at something. Suddenly, a door in his mind opened, and thoughts began bombarding him. "Oh! And, and when America was becoming independent from England, he treated people who didn't agree with him horribly! So when they didn't want to deal with him anymore, they came to me! People left America because I was safer! Ha! And when America was being a hoser and had slaves, they would run away to me too! I was the only safe place! And in 1814, I helped burn down his capital! He was thinking I was going to join him, but I didn't want to join him because he's a jerk! So, so I told him to screw himself and burned down his capital with England! And I was fighting in World War One and Two way before America was! America was being stupid and being all like, 'No, I don't wanna help, that takes too much effort!' and while he was being lazy and stupid, I was actually out there fighting! Plus I'm nicer and safer than America! I mean, every day you hear about someone trying to kill someone else in America, but in Canada, that never happens! Because I'm way better than that hoser! I really am!"

By the end of his rant, Canada was actually out of breath. He'd never talked so long and so excitedly about something. He looked back up at Prussia, and felt his heart thump especially hard as Prussia actually looked impressed. Finally, he spoke. "You and America don't get along too well, do you?"

Huh. He'd never really been asked that before. Most of the time, he was lucky if people didn't think he himself was America. "Um," he murmured, looking back at the floor. "Well. I mean, he's my brother and I still love him. But sometimes it's just hard for us to get along with each other. He gets too preoccupied with how amazing he is, he forgets about me."

Prussia gave a half smile at this. "I can understand that."

For a second, Canada had no idea how he could understand that. But then he remembered how, on the way to his home, Prussia had told him that Germany was his younger brother. His younger brother who became a huge superpower and was still a very influential country. Canada tried to think about what it would be like to have America—his younger brother by only three days—be the huge country he was while Canada just faded out of existence.

The thought absolutely terrified him.

"What is it like to not be a country anymore?" Canada wondered out loud before he could stop himself. He slapped his hand to his mouth and gazed wide-eyed at Prussia. "Oh maple, I'm sorry… that… that was rude of me. I'm sorry."

Prussia looked at him curiously, a mixture of emotions displayed on his face—confused, slightly surprised, a little… was that embarrassment? "Well," he said, scratching his head slightly, ruffling his silver hair, "it's… it's different. I mean, I still do stuff. I sometimes rent video games, sometimes I practice playing guitar and awesome things like that. I even tried making a motorcycle gang—with just me! …Didn't turn out like I thought, but it was awesome while it lasted. But while I can do those kinds of things, I can't do a lot of the things I used to. Can't make laws, can't fight in wars, can't do anything in politics. I can't even step foot in the meetings without getting yelled at." He cleared his throat slightly, but then a smile took over his face. "But I'm way too awesome to get depressed by that! I can still do awesome things without being a country! Plus people don't even bug me anymore! And I'm a loner anyway, so it's kind of nice sometimes."

Canada nodded slowly, his eyes shifting over to the side. "Do you… change when you go from being a country to a… a non-nation?"

Prussia paused and thought for a moment, tapping his chin lightly in thought. "Ja," he answered. "Nations are immortal and really hard to kill. And if you do somehow 'kill' them, they come back. But ex-nations are like people. They're still more durable than normal people; but… but we die. And when we die, we die for good. Nothing about regression or being reborn… just… dead." He looked up after his explanation, and Canada, tried to hide his expression from him. But from the look on Prussia's face, he knew he had failed. "You alright?" Prussia asked.

Canada frantically nodded, which seemed to make Prussia even more doubtful. "Yes, I'm okay," he quickly said. "It's just… it's a lot different from what I thought. I can't even think of being able to die… it's just… I mean…"

"Scary shit?"

Canada's head shot up, looking at Prussia's expression. Even though he had only known him for a few hours, he could already read him fairly well. Prussia had said it with a smile on his face, but his red eyes looked a little darker; less happy than before. "Yeah," Canada answered silently, keeping his eyes on him. "Really scary."

Prussia nodded, only making his smile grow somehow. "Ja, it can be pretty scary sometimes. But I've fought in tons of wars and stuff! I can handle myself. I know how to beat someone to death while barely even trying! So I don't think I have to worry about anything!"

Canada offered a small smile, then looked down at the floor once again. "I've… I've wondered what it would be like to stop being a country. I mean, I'm really big, so it would be hard to do, but… I don't have that much power. I don't have much of an army, my police force only makes people laugh, and all people really know me for is bacon and moose. I've never done anything really influential, and I've never been very strong. So I just have to wonder sometimes… America surrounds me, and Russia is really close to me too. What… what if one day they just decided to invade me? What if one day they just attacked me and…and…" He tightly clutched his slightly quivering hands together, staring down at the ground, not wanting to look Prussia in the eyes. How weak and pathetic he felt. He was the second largest country in the world, yet he was so vulnerable. He was such a disgrace.

He jumped slightly as he felt both of his shoulders gripped hard, his head shooting up to see Prussia's red eyes looking into his. "If they try anything," Prussia said, his face strong and determined, "then I'll beat both of their asses. Country or not, I can still fight. They won't touch you, Mattie. I promise."

Ba-dump.

Canada stared at Prussia, feeling a blush crawl up his neck and face as he realized that Prussia was being serious. He was seriously promising to protect him. Not able to help himself, he let a smile spread itself across his lips. "Thank you, Prussia."

It seemed that Prussia suddenly realized what he was doing. His face slightly coloring, he released the Canadian's shoulders and backed up. "J-ja, no problem," he said, scratching his head awkwardly. "I mean, you can't become awesome if you get beat up, right? Just makes sense."

Smiling, Canada just nodded as he turned towards the kitchen. "Do you want anything to eat or drink?" he asked. "I can get you anything if you'd like."

For a moment, Prussia kept standing awkwardly as if he still wasn't quite sure if he had just done what he had or not. After another moment of consideration, he smiled and walked towards him. "Sure! Food sounds awesome right now! You have any wurst?"

"Huh? 'Versed'?" Canada asked curiously, arching an eyebrow. Then after a moment, he said, "Oh! Wurst! Sorry, no, I don't have any. I do have maple sausage though… it's the closest thing I have to it."

Prussia looked at him curiously. "Maple sausage?" he repeated. "Sounds weird… I'll try it though."

Canada smiled, and turned to head for the kitchen. "Okay. I hope you enjoy the food. I know that many people find it odd, but it's not too different from America's." Under his breath, he quickly added, "Though mine's better."

For some reason, Canada was really hoping that Prussia would like his food. He'd never felt such pressure to impress anyone before. But as he continued to walk forward, he felt his heart pump uncomfortably hard. He was sure it was just because he wasn't used to the attention. It had to be just something simple like that. Nothing more.

Though, as he got to know Prussia more and more, the more fascinating the ex-country became. But surely the more the Prussian got to know him, he had to be becoming even more boring. What could ever be interesting about him?

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Prussia sat in fascination as he watched Mattie cook at his stove, taking care of two pans at one time. One hand was flipping what was similar to a crepe—Prussia had already forgotten what he had called them—while the other was taking care of what Mattie had called maple sausage. While little Mattie always looked so unsure and shy, when he was at the stove cooking, his expression was focused and almost intimidating. His long blond hair was held back slightly, only a small strand still hanging down in front of his face. The only person he could compare his focus to was his own brother. Rarely did he ever see such dedication in anything.

With what looked like barely any effort, Mattie gripped the pan with the crepe in it and flicked it with his wrist, sending it into the air. Barely even looking at it, he moved the pan appropriately, making it so that the crepe landed directly in the center of the pan once more. Prussia couldn't help but continue to stare at him, wondering how he was able to do such things without even seeming to think. He had to admit, his cooking skills were amazingly awesome. His own cooking skills paled in comparison.

Mattie seemed to finish up what he was doing as he flipped the pan over, making the crepe land safely on a plate filled with others. He then grabbed up the plate and the other skillet and brought them over to where Prussia was sitting. "Sorry for the wait," Mattie said, giving a shy smile. "Pancakes take a while to make. I hope you like them even though."

Prussia looked at the plate of 'pancakes' then back up to Mattie. "No problem," he said. "It was pretty entertaining watching you make them."

Mattie looked at him curiously, a slight blush rising up in his cheeks. "You… you were watching me?"

With a laugh, Prussia nodded. "Ja! I never thought someone could be so into cooking. You kind of made making crepes look badass."

Mattie arched an eyebrow, more blood going up towards his face. "Badass?" he questioned. "I… I was just making pancakes… what was so amazing about that?"

Prussia looked at him as if the answer was extremely obvious—because to him, it was. "You were barely looking at the skillets while you were cooking. You just did it. It didn't even look like you had to think about anything. Even I, the Awesome Prussia, can't do something like that."

Somehow, Mattie just shrugged it off as he set the food on the table. "It's… it's nothing too amazing. I mean… it's just cooking. France is much better than I am. If you put me and France next to each other in a kitchen, you wouldn't be interested in anything I do at all. I learned everything from him, but he hasn't even shown me all of his secrets. I'm just an amateur compared to him."

"And compared to you, I'm complete scheiße," Prussia retorted. Mattie was about to open his mouth to argue, but Prussia stood up before he could say anything, stepping forward so that their noses almost touched. Canada's eyes widened, stepping back clumsily as his glasses slid down his nose slightly. "You see, this is why no one thinks you're awesome, Mattie," Prussia lectured, taking another step closer because of Mattie's attempt of escape. "You don't take compliments and you don't stand up for yourself. To be awesome, you have to actually think you're awesome. You know, self-esteem?"

Mattie's face was red, but he silently nodded as his dark blue eyes shifted from side to side as if he didn't quite know where to look. Prussia didn't back off though, even though he knew how awkward the other was feeling with so little space between them. "Come on, Mattie. Just a while ago you were on a roll with things that made you awesome. Then I start complementing you and you totally shoot them down. You have to learn how to accept compliments. Otherwise you'll never be awesome."

"…S-sorry," Mattie murmured, looking down at the floor. "I… j-just don't…I…never really… get compliments is all… N-not used to them…"

Finally, Prussia backed off, sensing that their proximity was getting to Mattie. He calmly sat back down in his chair and gestured for the other to join him. "Well, you deserve more compliments in my opinion. You may not think it, but you do seem like a pretty cool person. You just need to make it so other people can see that side of you."

Mattie stared down at him, looking both concerned and awed. After a moment, he seemed to realize that he was staring as he quickly shook his head and also sat down with Prussia. "Well…erm… th-thank you, Prussia."

Prussia smiled. If nothing else, at least this was a start. "Nichts zu danken."

Deciding he'd said enough on the matter, Prussia reached forward and grabbed a crepe—or whatever they were called; he still couldn't quite remember the name Mattie had for them—and a few pieces of the maple sausage. He put the fake wurst off to the side for now and glared at the crepe. "What do I put on it?" he asked. His crepes from home were usually topped with powdered sugar and jam, but these looked much different from what he was used to.

"Here," Mattie said as he reached to the other end of the table and pulled a bottle towards them. "Here's maple syrup. And not the nasty fake kind that my brother makes. This is actually maple in here. Nothing artificial or American about it."

Prussia nodded slightly as he took the maple from the Canadian and screwed off the top of the bottle. He poured a generous amount onto the crepes, then handed it back to the Canadian who held it like it was a precious child. Cutting off a small section of the food, he looked it over once more before he put it in his mouth. He could feel Mattie's eyes on him, watching every facial and body movement.

He would have laughed at this if he hadn't been so preoccupied with the food inside of his mouth.

Mattie looked horrified as he watched Prussia chew, the German's face almost expressionless. After a few more moments, he finally swallowed and looked at the Canadian. "W-well?" he asked, wringing his hands. "Was it okay?"

Prussia shrugged. "No, it wasn't okay."

Mattie flinched and looked like he was about to start apologizing.

"It was awesome!"

Now Mattie was just staring at him, his dark blue eyes wide. "W-what?" he asked as if he wasn't sure he could believe what he was hearing. "You… you liked it? Really?"

"Hell yeah!" Prussia answered, flashing a huge smile. "These are seriously really good! I wish I could have tried them before! I'm definitely going to eat these more often!"

Mattie blushed, looking down at the table. "Wow… thank you. I… I thought I was the only one who liked them. America always makes fun of me for liking them so much. So… so thank you."

Prussia smiled as he reached over and ruffled the blonde's hair. "No problem, Mattie." He continued to eat, only slightly aware of how the Canadian was looking at him after the affectionate display. However, after a few more bites, he abrupt;y added, "And call me Gilbert. Feels weird that I'm using your human name and you're only using my country name."

Mattie looked a little surprised, but looked away as he slightly blushed. "But I've only known you for today really… it'd just feel weird calling you your actual name when I barely know you."

"Don't be so formal!" Prussia argued, pointing his fork at him. "Being formal is for losers!"

Mattie looked down at the table, his eyes flicking from side to side. "I'm just used to being formal… I'm not comfortable with anything else."

Prussia was going to continue to argue, but he just shrugged it off in the end. The kid had plenty more time to learn. It was just the first day after all, and becoming awesome was a long process for people that weren't born awesome like he was.

"So," Prussia said as he grabbed another crepe, "let's keep on working on that self-esteem of yours. Tell me more."

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Yay, a little bit of fluff this chapter. (: And I really hope this doesn't just seem like a bunch of randomness so far… I liked the first half of this chapter, but the second half… meh. It feels like filler. It does have to do with the rest of the story, but it seems slightly tedious to me. But I hope you liked it nonetheless!

Please review! Mattie will make you pancakes if you do! They have the Prussian stamp of approval! ;D