Jack = Australia
Kiwi = New Zealand
Sheila = Wy
Soren = Denmark
Nikolai = Norway
Isak = Iceland
Leon/Xianliang = Hong Kong
Lars = Netherlands
Laura = Belgium

All for the Love of Maple Syrup

Birthday Bash part 2

Waking up the next morning sandwiched between the Braginski siblings and finding out that Yong Soo crawled up to join them in his bed was not an experience Matthew cared to go through for a second time. On his list of things he never wanted to repeat, it was somewhere between Gilbert sending what seemed like hundreds of tiny chicks to his apartment and having to bail Gilbert out of jail because he beat the hell out of a guy for badmouthing Matthew. (Yeah, he knew about that.) Neither of those was at the top of his list, though the second one was up there pretty high.

With a heavy sigh, Matthew closed his eyes and prayed that when he opened them everything would be different.

They weren't.

The bedroom door slammed open and in marched a grinning Gilbert. "Birdie time to wake—what the fuck?"

"Don't ask," requested the Canadian, pushing fruitlessly at Yong Soo. "I'll explain later."

"Why is he here?" Gilbert demanded, glaring pointedly at Ivan and ignoring Matthew. "And he's in your bed! You don't even let me sleep with you!"

Matthew groaned and gave up on trying to push Yong Soo off of him. "Because you say weird things when we're waking up. Could you help me out here? Or at least wake up Al?"

As if in response, Leon emerged from his cave of blankets, fully dressed, and decided to lend a helping hand to Matthew. He stopped at the foot of the bed and grasped Yong Soo's ankles, giving them a strong tug so the Korean slid right off the bed and landed on the floor with a loud thump! "Get up," he said as his friend moaned in pain.

"Can't. Hurts."

Katyusha drowsily opened her eyes and pushed back the blankets, ready to sit up and face the day. The thin, clingy t-shirt she wore did nothing but accentuate her endowments more than usual, which helped to shut up Gilbert but resulted in her squeaking in embarrassment and yanking the blankets up to cover her chest. Her actions pulled the blankets off of her brother, leaving his bare chest open to the cool air.

"Cold…" Ivan murmured, reaching out to wrap his arms around Matthew and draw him close. With a soft sigh of contentment, he nuzzled Matthew's hair and settled down to sleep for a while longer.

Gilbert twitched. "Matt. What the hell. Why is he naked?"

"He's not naked," Matthew replied. "He's wearing pants. I'm not wearing my glasses and I can see that much. And if you're not going to help me, then get out so I can deal with this without anyone shouting. "

"But Mattie–"

"Just go," Matthew interrupted, already sounding exhausted though the day had barely begun. "You can keep Soren away from my room. Fight him if you want."

Torn between his want to pick a fight with the Dane while he still had permission and his desire to stay and protect Matthew, Gilbert continued to stand there and glare at Ivan. After a few seconds, he grumbled something under his breath and kicked Alfred in the side before walking out of the room.

Alfred grunted and rolled over, continuing to sleep.

"Thanks for helping, Al," Matthew muttered sarcastically, closing his eyes. "You're such a great brother."

Twenty minutes later, after waking up everyone but Alfred and directing Katyusha to the hall bathroom, where she could change clothes in private, Matthew led his friends to the kitchen where everyone else was gathered.

Ms. Williams blinked in surprise at the new crowd. "Matthew, what is going on? Who are they?"

"Mom, these are my friends. They arrived late last night," Matthew explained. "This is Ivan and his sister Katyusha. And those two are Yong Soo and Leon. It was too early for them to check in when they arrived, so I let them stay in my room."

Ms. Williams beamed, glad that her son had relieved a situation without needing to wake up the entire house. She knew from various comments she'd read on facebook that Alfred didn't like very much and would have most likely started yelling and complaining loud enough to wake up everyone inside the house as well as the neighbours. "Well come and sit! I'm sure you're hungry. We have plenty of food. I'm Katherine Williams, by the way."

Yong Soo bounded forward to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Williams! Wow, now I see why Matt's so cute!"

Soren snorted with laughter and Gilbert scowled at the Korean.

Ms. Williams laughed. "Thank you. Now please, come sit and eat. Once Alfred wakes up it'll be gone faster than you can blink."

Yong Soo sat down next to Soren, who grinned at him and introduced himself before pointing to Nikolai and talking about how cute he was. The Korean nodded enthusiastically, responding with how beautiful he found Yao, Kiku, and Leon before Leon smacked him on the head as he sat down.

Katyusha sat on the other side of Leon with Ivan right beside her. Before Matthew could take a seat next to the tall Russian, Gilbert grabbed his arm and pulled him over into his lap.

"Gil!" Matthew shrieked, his voice going unnaturally high. "What the fuck?"

"Language, Matthew," Ms. Williams said warningly.

"There's not enough seats," Gilbert said defensively, holding on tightly to his best friend. His red eyes met Ivan's violet and he couldn't help but smirk victoriously. "This way Mutti has a place to sit too. I'm being nice."

Ivan frowned.

Matthew squirmed in his grasp. "We have other chairs, Gilbert. Besides, Al and dad need places to sit too. I should go get them before they wake up."

"Shut up and eat, Birdie."

Soren leaned over to Nikolai with a grin, wrapping one arm around the younger man's shoulders. "Nik, you can sit in my lap if you want."

"No," replied Nikolai.

Ms. Williams cleared her throat, trying her best not to smile. "I'll get the chairs, sweetheart. I guess we only need two more…"

Matthew's eyes widened. "Mom!"

She giggled and walked away to hunt down more chairs.

"I think Matvey should sit in my lap," Ivan said challengingly. "Gilbert looks too frail to handle his weight."

Yong Soo, Soren, and Katyusha stopped eating to watch the two. Soren's eyes were gleaming at the promise of a good fight. Yong Soo seemed happy to witness something exciting happening. (His usual breakfasts with Yao, Leon, Kiku, and Mei were far too quiet and tense.) Katyusha looked nervous. Nikolai, Isak, and Leon continued eating, glancing at one of the two every now and then but otherwise showing no interest in what was going on.

Gilbert bared his teeth in a snarl. "I'm not some fucking weakling, Braginski. I've always been able to lift up Matthew."

"So have I," Ivan said calmly.

"You've only known him for–"

"Gil," Matthew interrupted, flicking the albino on the cheek. "Shut up." He caught sight of Ivan smirking and leveled a glare at him. "You too, Ivan. It's July first, which means it's my birthday and I want both of you to behave yourselves and not fight with each other all day. I'm not asking you two to hang out and be the best of friends, just no fighting. Got it?"

"Ja…" Gilbert grumbled, loosening his arms around Matthew's stomach.

Ivan giggled and everyone except Matthew and Katyusha gave him an odd look. "Da!"

With the impending fight stopped, Yong Soo and Soren began eating again. Katyusha whispered to her brother for a moment before smiling happily at his reply. Then the two began eating as well.

Ms. Williams returned with a single chair, saying nothing when she saw that Matthew was still in Gilbert's lap and that the two were quietly talking. Gilbert was grinning as he used one arm to hold onto Matthew and the other to spear pieces of pancake and try to feed it to the younger man. Matthew was doing his best to escape, but had ceased talking since every time he tried his friend would shut him up by sticking the fork in his mouth.

She slipped away to locate the other chairs.

"Knock it off!" Matthew yelled, taking the opportunity to head butt Gilbert's chin while he was leaning forward to slice another piece of pancake.

"Kesesesesese!"

Alfred walked into the room, yawning loudly and lifting the bottom of his skirt as he scratched at his stomach.

"Very attractive," Soren remarked with a hint of sarcasm.

Alfred sleepily blinked when he saw everyone around the table. He let his hands fall to his sides as his gaze landed on his twin and Gilbert. Suddenly, he wasn't so tired. "Oi, Gilfreak! What're you doing with my brother!"

Matthew groaned softly, wondering if anything was going to go right that day.

Two hours later, the decorations were all in place, the grills had full tanks of gas and were ready to cook all the food they needed, a volleyball net had been set up in the backyard, helium balloons had been tied to the mailbox, and Gilbert and Ivan had only fought twice.

They had worked mostly in pairs. Nikolai stuck with Soren to make sure he did everything he needed to. Alfred worked with Gilbert and Matthew until Elizaveta arrived, which was when she decided she wanted to work with him and dragged him off to put up streamers. Isak, Yong Soo, and Leon naturally gravitated towards each other and talked about video games as they put tablecloths over the patio table and oversized picnic table. Ivan stuck by his sister, helping her set out lawn chairs, though he spent most of the time looking longingly at Matthew.

Jack, Kiwi, and Sheila had arrived an hour into decorating. Fifteen minutes later, Elizaveta arrived ready to help out in any way she could. Roughly thirty-five minutes after that, Lars and his younger sister Laura arrived. Lars assisted by putting the tulips he'd brought in a vase, while Laura helped Sheila get down the helium balloons which had floated up to the ceiling.

It wasn't long after they finished decorating that Alfred got a call from Arthur saying they were pulling into the neighbourhood. He grabbed Matthew and the two hurried to the front yard to greet their friends.

"Alfred," Matthew said, annoyance tingeing his voice as he watched two cars full of people pull into the driveway, blocking in Jack's rental car and Lars's old Dodge truck. "What part of 'only five people' did you not understand, eh?"

Alfred laughed and patted his brother on the back. "Relax, bro! The more the merrier, am I right?"

Matthew frowned as a familiar blond got out of the first car. He punched Alfred in the shoulder and hissed: "I told you not to invite Francis!"

"Ow! Geez! I didn't, okay? He must've just come on his own," Alfred said. "You know there's no such thing as secrets in that building. The only two I actually invited was Arthur and Kiku. Well, and Arthur's brothers, but they didn't want to come."

Matthew relaxed knowing it was probably true. If there was one thing he liked the most about his twin, it was that he was honest. (Unless it had to do with his feelings, especially when he was scared, then he had the tendency to pretend that everything was okay and that he was a brave hero who would protect him from everything.)

He smiled as he walked over to greet everyone. Already he was calculating the best way to stay out of Francis's groping range.

"Artie!" Alfred yelled gleefully, zipping past his twin so he could give his British friend a huge hug. Arthur sputtered angrily at first but quickly gave up and just let the American hug him. Francis chuckled at the two of them and Kiku smiled and fidgeted with the camera hanging around his neck.

Feliciano got out of the other car and skipped over to Matthew, ignoring his brother's cries for help as Antonio decided he wanted to hug him. "Ve~ Thanks for inviting us to your party, Alfred! I love parties! And pasta. Are we going to have pasta? Ooo!" He didn't hear Matthew's quiet response of "But I'm Matthew, not Alfred" as he bounded away to talk to the grinning albino standing at the front door. "Gilbert!"

Lovino managed to break out of Antonio's hold by delivering a head butt to his chest. Faster than anyone could blink, he caught up with his brother and dragged him back to the car.

"Lovi's so cute~" Antonio wheezed.

"Shut up and help me get the damn presents, bastard."

Francis walked towards Matthew, pouting when the younger man took a step back. "No love for me? And after I traveled so far to visit you."

Matthew wasn't falling for it. After being fought over by Ivan and Gilbert for most of the morning, the last thing he wanted was to be touched, especially not in the overly friendly way that Francis typically went for. "Welcome to Canada," he said, knowing Alfred wouldn't. A quick glance at his twin told him he was too busy chatting happily with Arthur and Kiku and most likely wouldn't do much else for a while.

Francis took the opportunity to sneak towards Matthew while the younger blond was distracted. He didn't get too close before Gilbert appeared, swinging an arm around the Frenchman's shoulders and expertly steering him over to Antonio and the Italians.

Matthew breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed what had happened.

At least for the moment, he'd dodged a bullet.

The party was underway. Ms. Williams was happily playing the role of hostess, making sure they had plenty of drinks and ice. Mr. Jones was outside manning the grills with a little help from Jack and Alfred, though the two were so easily distracted that he may as well have been doing it on his own.

Unsurprisingly, with the large number of people gathered at the Williams house, people had split off into various groups.

Yong Soo, Leon, and Isak were inside playing video games. Yong Soo was fully focused on the television while the other two were partially distracted by their conversation about the annoying things their older brothers did.

Matthew had long-since found himself drawn into an awkward group consisting of himself, Ivan, Gilbert, Elizaveta, and Lars and was sandwiched right between Ivan and Gilbert. Francis would occasionally wander by and make things worse by blowing Matthew a kiss, much to Elizaveta's amusement.

Closer to the grills, Alfred had amassed his usual group, with the addition of Antonio, Lovino, and Feliciano. He kept jumping up and down from his spot between Arthur and Kiku, mostly to check on food but also to drag Francis away from his brother. He wasn't so clueless that he hadn't noticed the hints Arthur had been dropping about their landlord's intense like of his brother. (Granted, Arthur's "hints" were quite blunt.)

Like every year, Jack and Soren had forcibly coerced Kiwi and Nikolai into playing badminton with them. The New Zealander and Norwegian were quite happily kicking their asses. Or at least Kiwi was. It was hard to tell if Nikolai was happy or not.

Laura and Katyusha had taken Sheila by the hand and were walking around with her, exchanging funny stories about their family members and friends.

A car pulled into the Beilschmidt's driveway and parked behind Elizaveta's blue-green car. Gilbert noticed right away and yelled across the yard to the person. "Oi, Bruder! West! Come join us! Hurry up!"

Ludwig frowned but waved to his older brother to show he understood, not wanting him to continue yelling. Rather than head right over, he took a few grocery bags from the car and disappeared into his house.

Lovino lightly smacked Feliciano on the shoulder. "Why can't you be more like that, idiot? Stop leaving me to bring in the food by myself!"

"Ve~ I'm sorry, fratello."

"You better b–Damn it, Antonio!"

Antonio cooed while pinching Lovino's cheeks. "You're so cute, Lovi~"

Alfred laughed loudly at the pair while Kiku kept Francis from taking advantage of the situation by sneaking a grope of Arthur's backside.

Lovino's shouts of complaint soon grew loud enough that Soren, Jack, Nikolai, and Kiwi paused in the midst of their game to look over and see what was going on.

"Dude, calm down!" Alfred said with a grin. "You yell worse than Arthur!"

Arthur's cheeks blazed red in anger. "Well maybe if you wouldn't jump on me–"

"I would love to jump you," Francis purred, leaning towards the Englishman.

"Stop misinterpreting my words, Frog!"

Giggling at how funny his friends and brother were, Feliciano stood up with his empty cup and slipped away to go into the house for more juice. He smiled brightly at Ms. Williams as she bustled past with a bowl of potato chips for the ever-growing table of food. After getting a fresh drink, he glanced across the hall to the living room where Yong Soo, Leon, and Isak were changing to a different game. He watched Yong Soo scowl as the light-haired Nordic reached over to tap Leon on the nose, eliciting a roll of the eyes from the youngest teen.

"Ve~" The sound slipped out with a tiny giggle as Feliciano pivoted to return to the party. He wasn't paying much attention to where he was going and smacked right into something tall and solid, spilling some of his juice as it sloshed over the edges. He shrieked in fright, automatically switching from 'happy' to a full-on 'panic', thinking he had accidentally bumped into Ivan.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't hit me! I bruise easily like a peach! I didn't mean to hit you, really! I have relatives him Moscow!" He began to sway but was quickly steadied by a pair of hands on his shoulders.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Feliciano's wailing ceased and he opened his eyes to see who it was. He relaxed when he saw tidy blond hair and calm blue eyes. "Oh, I thought you were Ivan but you're not scary at all! Sorry about that! Are you one of Alfred's friends?"

"No, I grew up with Matthew. I'm Gilbert's brother, Ludwig."

Feliciano looked up, really taking in his features. Thanks to his love of art and painting which had given him the ability to pay close attention to details when he wanted to, he was able to spot a few characteristics shared by the brothers, though it wasn't enough that he would have known they were related from a glance. "I'm Feliciano Vargas! Nice to meet you!"

Ludwig smiled slightly as he held out his hand for Feliciano to shake. "It's nice to meet you, Feliciano."

"Ve~?" Feliciano stared at the hand in confusion before understanding lit up his eyes and he enthusiastically grabbed Ludwig's hand with both of his and shook it vigorously.

'He's so nice! And since fratello said he wishes I was more like him, that means he won't get angry if I make friends with him!' Feliciano thought happily. 'But I wonder…'

"Do you like pasta?" He asked.

"Pasta?" Ludwig repeated, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Ja, I suppose."

Feliciano beamed and began chattering about all of his favorite kinds and how much fun it was to cook. When Ludwig tried to make an excuse to leave, he tagged along and continued talking, pausing only to catch his breath or wait for the blond to answer a question.

'I love making new friends!'

Matthew was truly amazed by how patient Gilbert was that year. Usually it didn't take more than an hour or so before the albino tried to drag him off to get away from the crowd. For once he managed to wait until the food had been eaten, cake had been served, and presents opened before he sneakily asked Matthew for help in the kitchen so he could drag him away without anyone noticing.

"Gilbert, where are we going?" Matthew whispered as they snuck across the yard to hide behind the cars and use them as their cover.

"You'll see," Gilbert responded with a grin. "It'll be great. You'll love this!"

"If this is anything like two years ago when you took me to the park so we could roll down the hill in a barrel, I'm going to hit you," Matthew threatened.

Gilbert laughed quietly. "That was fun! But this is going to be even more awesome than that."

Matthew rolled his eyes. He couldn't deny that he did have fun, at least up until he rolled into a tree and banged up his head. He decided to go along with his friend for the time being. But the second he got the feeling they were doing something stupid and dangerous, he was calling it all off.

Gilbert looked around and then gestured for Matthew to follow him. Together they dashed over and huddled in the bushes against the Beilschmidt's house. Matthew started to feel silly as they crouched there in the heat for several long minutes.

"What are–"

"C'mon!" Gilbert grabbed Matthew's hand and dragged him out of the bushes. The blond stumbled, pulled off-balance as his friend began running again.

Ten minutes later, after being led down the road several blocks and pulled through a small patch of trees and underbrush, Matthew found himself standing at the bank of a smooth-flowing river. It was a place he was familiar with. He, Gilbert, Elizaveta, and (occasionally) Ludwig had spent many summer evenings pushing each other into the water.

"I'd rather not go swimming with my clothes on again. I ruined my shirt last time. It was a gift from my great aunt and mom was pissed," Matthew said.

"Then don't wear clothes," Gilbert suggested.

Matthew frowned and looked over at him. He could only sigh when he saw that Gilbert had already taken off his shirt and was in the process of kicking off his pants and shoes.

"You coming in or am I going to have to strip you myself?" Gilbert asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Matthew rolled his eyes and lifted his shirt over his head, feeling only mildly uncomfortable with how intensely Gilbert was watching him. He did his best to ignore it and turned his back to the white-haired man.

He draped his shirt over a low-hanging branch, ignoring Gilbert's cackle of how he was such a momma's boy. Knowing Gilbert would take it upon himself and "help" if he didn't hurry up, he undid his jeans and pushed them and his boxers down and hung them up with his shirt before slipping off his shoes. He was tucking his glasses into his pants pocket when he heard Gilbert run and jump into the water with a gleeful cry.

"Heads up!" Matthew yelled, jumping in after him.

Gilbert waited for his friend to resurface before using his arm to send a wave of water at him. "Tidal wave!"

Matthew blindly splashed back, not daring to open his eyes after the initial bombardment. They spent the next few minutes splashing one another until Matthew daringly swam forward and tried to dunk Gilbert under the water. Gilbert dragged him down with him.

They popped back up to the surface, pausing to catch their breath.

"And you thought I was going to make you do something stupid," Gilbert said with a cackle.

"Usually it is," Matthew reminded him.

"Figured I'd surprise you this time," Gilbert said, splashing his friend before diving back under the water.

Matthew chuckled and relaxed in the water, ready to hold his breath at the first sign of Gilbert trying to pull him under.

It was rather nice to do something that wouldn't end in disaster or running away from someone. Matthew felt it was going to be his favorite of any of his birthdays. He had gotten to eat good food and enjoy a piece of cake in the company of his friends and family, however crazy they were. No one had tried to kill anyone. Soren hadn't tried to start a brawl or been tossed into a table by Nikolai. Even better, it hadn't rained like the weatherman predicted it would, and they hadn't had to squeeze everyone inside.

"Banzai!"

"Eh?" Matthew blinked and looked up, catching a glimpse of a blurry figure with brown hair just before they landed in the water near him. He turned his head just in time to avoid being blinded by the splash.

Gilbert popped back up to the surface at the same time as Jack and looked up on the bank with a scowl. "What the hell are you all doing here?"

Soren smirked back as Yong Soo ran past him and joined them in the water. Kiwi stood next to him, thankfully still clothed, though both Matthew and Gilbert knew from experience that it wouldn't take much for the quiet New Zealander to take part in the fun.

"Did you really think you could steal Matt away and no one would notice?" Soren asked. "You're lucky Aunt Kat didn't see you."

"She's not your aunt," Kiwi reminded him.

"One day," Soren sighed. "One day…"

Matthew wearily watched Jack and Yong Soo swim around him, leaving Gilbert to talk to Soren (which may have been a mistake). He didn't trust either of them to behave. "So much for a moment of peace," he murmured.

"Get down here and say that to my face!" Gilbert snarled after a particular remark from Soren.

Clearly, Matthew had missed something in the few seconds he spent paying more attention to his cousin and friend. He wasn't surprised. As similar as Gilbert and Soren could be at times, they often fought when left alone together. It'd been that way since the first time they met six years before when Nikolai first let the Dane tag along with him. The biggest problem was that they loved to fight with each other and sometimes one of them would take it a step too far.

"Gladly!" Soren responded. He pushed off his boxers and then jumped into the water, landing dangerously close to Gilbert.

Matthew could only watch as the two attempted to drown one another, not sure what else to do. Jack and Yong Soo watched as well, and though Jack was used to the two doing that sort of thing even he was taken aback.

"How did this start?" Matthew asked.

Jack shrugged. "No clue. I wasn't paying attention."

"Neither was I," said Yong Soo.

They weren't much of a help, so Matthew decided to take care of matters himself. He swam a little closer to the fighting duo and waited for the right opportunity to strike. As Gilbert successfully shoved Soren backwards and under the water, Matthew struck out his hand and grabbed his friend's white hair.

"Ow! Birdie–fuck! That hurts!"

Matthew tugged harder. "I told you not to fight on my birthday!"

"He started it!"

Matthew raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure it was you who punched Soren first. Come on. We're leaving."

"But this is fun!" Gilbert whined.

Dunking his friend underwater seemed to be the most diplomatic answer Matthew could think of.

"I can't believe you didn't invite me." Elizaveta pouted while watching Matthew dry his hair with a towel.

The two of them and Gilbert were sitting in the Canadian's bedroom, taking a little break from the party and avoiding the wrath of Ms. Williams while she was in lecture-mode. The pretty brunette girl was sitting at the window where she could see everyone outside celebrating. Gilbert was sprawled out across the bed with a towel draped over his head. Matthew was sitting on the corner of the bed.

"Didn't think you wanted to go swimming naked with us," Gilbert said. "I'll remember that next time, Veta."

Elizaveta rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant. You leave me out every year when you do this. Just for once I'd like to be invited."

"If it's any consolation, I'm not a willing participant in this," Matthew told her.

Gilbert snorted in disgust. "Sure you're not. That's why you didn't escape the first chance you got."

"Shut up, Gil."

Elizaveta glanced out the window and said nothing when she saw Ms. Williams leave Jack, Kiwi, Soren, and Yong Soo alone to enter the house. She knew she was on the hunt for her two boys but she felt a little justification in not giving them a warning since they had, once again, left her behind. Besides that, she was quickly distracted by something far more interesting than the impending doom approaching her friends.

Standing away from everyone else was Ludwig and the cheerful and adorable Italian named Feliciano she had the privilege of talking to earlier that day. She didn't find that part too unusual, since Feliciano had been following Ludwig around all afternoon. What really caught her attention her was the deep blush the German was sporting.

She grinned. What an interesting development she had discovered.

"Dude, bro!" Alfred called, popping in the doorway with Kiku and Arthur by his side. "Mom's looking for you. She's on her way up. I'd hide if I were you."

Gilbert pulled the towel away from his face and he and Matthew exchanged a look before they both bolted for the door, shoving past Alfred.

"Hi, Elizaveta!" Alfred greeted.

Elizaveta waved noncommittally, more interested in watching what she believed was a romance budding before her eyes. Alfred shrugged and walked away with Arthur by his side. Kiku lingered. He waited what he felt to be an appropriate amount of time and then cautiously approached her.

"Elizaveta-san, is everything alright?"

She jumped in surprise, her green eyes widening slightly as she turned her head to look at him. "O-oh, Kiku! Hello! Did you loose Alfred? I know he has the habit of running off without warning. He did that a lot when we were planning pranks during the winter…"

Kiku shook his head. "I'm fine. I was just wondering what you are looking at."

Elizaveta smiled and pointed to Ludwig and Feliciano. What would Kiku think of them, she wondered. To her amazement, he smiled and nodded knowingly.

"Ah, so you noticed as well," Kiku said. "It would be an interesting relationship, hai? I wonder how well he compliments Feliciano-kun."

"I've tried to set up Ludwig with a couple people, but none of them worked out. Maybe I was trying to find someone too similar to him… Though Feliciano may be too much for him. Ludwig looks like he's on the verge of being overwhelmed." She giggled. "I've never seen him so flustered. It's kind of cute."

Kiku peered at the pair in interest. "It may be tough. Feliciano-kun flirts with girls all the time, but I've never seen him take a real interest in anyone."

"Just girls?" Elizaveta questioned.

Kiku nodded. "Hai. Though he doesn't seem bothered by Antonio-san or Francis-san. Sometimes I wonder if he's so clueless he doesn't realize."

"Maybe we should set them up," Elizaveta suggested, a gleam of determination appearing in her eyes. "I've got a couple of friends who would help."

Kiku considered it, weighing the odds and trying to predict what may possibly happen if they made plans. It would certainly be an interesting alliance with no end of excitement, if he had judged the young woman correctly. He came to his conclusion quickly. "I have one condition, Elizaveta-san."

"Name it."

Kiku took a deep breath, hoping his friends wouldn't hate him forever for what he was about to say. "I want you to help me set up Alfred-kun and Arthur-san."

Elizaveta grinned. "Deal."

Nikolai was never going to walk past a closet or a coatroom or a walk-in pantry or anything even remotely similar ever again. Every time he did, Soren was waiting for him inside and would open the door and pull him in for a heavy make-out session that left him either wanting to punch the man or drag him away to their shared bedroom. Maybe both.

"You have got to stop doing this," he hissed as a coat hanger fell on his head.

Even in the dim light he could see Soren grin. "Would you rather I kiss you out there in front of everyone and show them just who you belong to?"

Nikolai scowled and punched him on the shoulder, hard. "I'm not yours."

Soren didn't even wince. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the shorter man and pulled him even closer. One hand sought out Nikolai's and he gently threaded their fingers together, stealthily sliding a silver band with a small sapphire embedded onto his ring finger. "Well I'm yours. Always and forever, Nikolai."

As always, those words had Nikolai's heart racing, his face heating up pleasantly. He fought with himself for a moment before giving in to his urges and pressing himself against the Dane. "You know I love you, moron," he whispered so quietly that Soren would've had to strain to listen if he didn't already know what the Norwegian said.

Soren chuckled and dipped down to kiss his boyfriend. "So, we can go have sex now, right?"

Nikolai slugged his boyfriend on the cheek and stormed out of the closet, balling both hands into fists. He stopped walking suddenly when he felt the warm metal band wrapped around his finger and quickly looked at his hand. So stunned by the appearance of the jewelry, he didn't fight off the arms that wrapped around his waist.

"Do you like it?" Soren asked. "Took me ages to find the right one. All of the others seemed like way too much. And I know that diamonds are supposed to be the best and all, but then I saw this sapphire and it reminded me of your eyes–"

"Shut up," Nikolai said, turning around in his arms. He stood on tip-toe and wrapped his arms around Soren's neck, leaning in for a brief kiss. "It's fine."

Soren's heart soared. That was practically an exclamation of delight coming from the icy Norwegian! He'd gotten a kiss instead of being hit or being forced to watch Nikolai storm off, which meant he'd done something right. There was just one last thing to settle. He willed himself to calm down and look Nikolai in the eyes.

"Nikolai Christensen, will you marry me?"

"You know you did it backwards, right?" Nikolai asked.

Soren flushed. "Well–But I–Yes, but–"

Nikolai silenced him with a kiss. "I will," he whispered when they pulled apart. "I'll marry you."

Alfred and Arthur watched, flabbergasted, as Nikolai pulled a speechless Soren back into the closet. The two stood there for many seconds after the closet door was shut, trying to comprehend what they had just witnessed.

"What the hell just happened?" Alfred asked, breaking the silence.

"I have no bloody clue."

Lars wasn't at all happy with how his day was going, which was odd since Matthew's birthday was always the one he looked forward to the most, other than his own of course. That year was supposed to be even more special. It was going to be the year he asked Matthew out on a date.

Unfortunately, Matthew's new friends (and Gilbert) had ruined his plans to get the blond alone. It wasn't fair! When had so many people started to notice the young Canadian? Really notice him? He'd always seen Gilbert as a minor form of competition, though he knew the German-Prussian-Canadian-whatever-the-hell-he-was was so clueless when it came to feelings that he really didn't matter. But suddenly he found himself competing with some terrifying Russian who played hockey with Matthew, the Russian's very sexy and well-endowed older sister, some French guy (who he quickly deemed undeserving of Matthew's love), and that crazy Korean kid who couldn't seem to make up his mind whether or not he wanted Matthew or that Asian kid. To make matters worse, Matthew was paying more attention to them than he was to him.

Of course, Matthew wasn't ignoring him. Not at all. He just wasn't actively seeking him out like he normally would and it was really starting to bother him. It wasn't right! There had to be something he could do to get Matthew's attention.

"Careful or smoke will come out of your ears."

Lars frowned at his younger sister, who merely grinned back at him, not at all put off by his grumpy mood. "What do you want, Laura?"

"I was just going to leave and go home on my own, but then I saw you sitting here all by yourself looking like you were deep in thought," Laura said. "So I figured I'd come save your brain before it bursts into flames."

Lars gave her his most unamused look, but it didn't work. He sighed. "Fine. I'll see you at home."

Laura pouted. "That's it? You're not going to demand that I get Ms. Williams to drive me home? Are you feeling alright?" She reached out to feel his forehead, but her brother pushed her arm away.

"I'm not sick. I'm thinking."

Laura hummed, studying him thoughtfully. "Okay. If you say so. I'm gonna go see if that cute Spanish guy and his Italian friend will drive me home. Matt's alone in the kitchen pantry, by the way."

For the first time in many, many years, Lars felt thankful he had a little sister. Then he realized exactly what she'd just said and promptly abandoned his quest to get Matthew alone in favor of protecting her virtue. After all, he had the whole rest of summer to spend with Matthew.

When the birthday party finally drew to an end, it was to some relief on everyone's part. Though half of the travelers from America adjourned to the hotel they were staying at, the other half remained behind to help tidy up. It went almost without saying that Arthur and Kiku stayed to help. Feliciano also chose to remain behind (mostly to continue following Ludwig around), along with Ivan, Katyusha, and Leon. Since they were staying at the Williams house, Soren, Nikolai, and Isak were also still there. Naturally, neither Gilbert nor Elizaveta had left for home, though it was debatable whether or not Gilbert was actually helping or not.

Jack, Kiwi, and Sheila had left for their hotel with the excuse that Sheila was exhausted after a day of running around. Francis, Antonio, Lovino, and Yong Soo had taken off shortly after them, causing Arthur to worry about what would be waiting for him when he finally arrived at the hotel.

Decorations were quickly taken down, the grills closed up and double checked to make sure they were turned off, Gilbert and Matthew had taken the helium balloons for their own amusement, Leon and Isak had teamed up to clean the video game area (though there was so little to do that it wasn't long before they were relaxing on the couch, sitting very close and talking in hushed voices), and everyone else was clearing away trash in the house and yard.

Elizaveta gently nudged Kiku with her elbow and nodded towards Ludwig and Feliciano. Kiku looked over, lifting his camera, and quickly snapped a series of photo's before going back to his work.

Elizaveta giggled. They were so cute. And with how forward and open Feliciano was with his emotions and loving gestures, she wasn't sure if the two would need any help getting together. Alfred and Arthur on the other hand…. She glanced over to see the two bickering with each other over something or other again.

From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Feliciano gesturing for Ludwig to lean down so he could throw his arms around his neck in a hug and plant a kiss on each of his cheeks. Elizaveta bit her lip to keep from squealing in absolute joy. Oh how she hoped Kiku had gotten a picture of that.

"Kesesesese! Little West is so cute!" Gilbert cackled in a high pitch voice, courtesy of the partially deflated helium balloon in his hand. Matthew appeared next to him, giggling up a storm and looking more than a little out of it.

"Hey, Veta," he said before bursting out into a fresh round of giggles thanks to the sound of his squeaky voice. "I-I sound so f-funny!" He stammered between laughter.

Elizaveta raised an eyebrow. "He found the stash Lars left in his room, didn't he?"

Gilbert grinned and inhaled more helium before speaking. "Yup. I hate the guy, but he gets the best stuff."

It was moments like those when Elizaveta wondered about her boys and how they managed to get by on a day-to-day basis. Or rather, how had they not gotten caught by Ms. Williams yet? "Why don't you two go inside and, um, clean Matthew's room or something," she suggested, grasping each of them by the shoulder and turning them towards the house. She gave them a little push. "Go on."

Gilbert nudged Matthew with his elbow. "Race you!"

The Canadian nudged his friend back a little too hard, setting the albino off-balance. "You're on!"

Elizaveta watched them run away and then sighed and went back to picking up trash.

Katyusha opened the door to the tiny hotel bathroom, releasing a cloud of steam from her hot shower. She shivered when the cool air hit her damp skin and clutched her fluffy towel a little more tightly. Her hair dripping small droplets of water on her back and shoulders didn't help matters. She spied Ivan sitting on the bed near the window, pulling back the curtains slightly to stare outside with a pensive look on his face.

"Vanya?" She asked softly. "Is everything alright?"

Ivan didn't say anything for so long that Katyusha wondered if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. "I feel weird."

"Weird?" Katyusha repeated, worry creeping into her voice. She crossed the room to stand next to him, clutching her towel with both hands right over her heart.

"Da," Ivan said with a nod. "I can't explain it." He paused for a moment and Katyusha remained silent, giving him time to continue if he wanted. "You know that feeling when you're nervous about something. Like when Natalia comes to visit." He shivered in fear. "Нет, not like that. That's scary. It's more like… like the thrill of preparing for a hockey game. Especially against a worthy opponent. Like Matvey! Never knowing what is going to happen… No, that's not it either."

He let go of the curtain and looked to his older sister with hope in his eyes. "How do I make it go away?"

Katyusha worried her lower lip in thought. "I don't know… When do you get this feeling?"

"When I think about Matvey," Ivan admitted almost shyly. "He's so different. He isn't afraid of me and he even smiles at me."

It took Katyusha a moment to properly process his words, but once she did her face lit up with a bright smile and she threw her arms around her little brother, pulling him close. "Oh, I'm so happy! Vanya has a crush! How exciting! Oh, you'd be so cute together~!"

Ivan flushed in embarrassment. "S-sister!"

She giggled and kissed the top of his head. "My little Vanya's growing up."

"Please put on clothes!" Ivan wailed as his sister's towel began to slip.

End chapter

There's so much in this chapter that I'm not even sure where to begin.

First of all, I cannot even begin to express my love for everyone who has reviewed or added this story to their alerts/favorites. Pretty much everyone who reviewed the last chapter said that pairings would be a good addition to the story. Amusingly enough, everyone focused on Matthew and who they want him to be with.

I got a request for DenNor as a pairing and since they were going to be a couple anyway, I was more than happy to give them their own little scene. I'm not sure how they ended up being my sappy couple of the story, but I rather like it.

As for Matthew, this is only the beginning of his troubles.

For once I remembered everything I wanted to include! Plus, with everything that happened in this chapter, I've gotten more ideas for future chapters.

Additional note, not relating to the story:

Remember the poll I mentioned at the end of the last chapter? It's still up. I'm probably going to leave it there until I finish this story and 'The 11th State'.

For anyone who missed/forgot what the poll is about, basically I want a little help deciding on Romania's human name. I have my favorite of the names, but I want to see what everyone else thinks.