"Pleeeeaaasssseee Mattie! Please!" Alfred had resorted to practically begging Matthew after nearly an hour long argument over the situation at hand. Matthew had missed at least three phone calls from his boss who was probably panicking by now. He rubbed at his temples, thoroughly distressed that Alfred still did not understand what he was trying to say.
"Listen idiot," Gilbert finally interjected after doing nothing more to help than glare at the American the whole argument, "Obviously he doesn't want to help you out of the stupid shithole you dug yourself into and he has no reason to. You fucked up today more than you ever have before and he doesn't want to get dragged into this shit storm with you. Nobody with half a brain would do what you did and no one with even an eighth of a brain would even show interest in helping you. You might as well hand over the lives of all of your citizens right now. No one is going to help and now you have done much more than overstay your welcome and I want your sorry ass out of this house."
Alfred stared at him for what felt like an eternity before standing up with a huff and storming back out of the house, knocking the door right back off of its hinges in the process. Matthew sighed before getting to his feet and going to readjust the door on its frame. He fixed it and then walked back over to where Gilbert was sitting on the couch staring at him with big, tired red eyes. He sat down in the man's lap and curled up in his arms, closing his eyes and wishing he could just sleep. They sat in comfortable silence for a while until he Gilbert finally spoke.
"Wow today has been really unawesome. Your brother can be such an ass. What idiot just gets up one morning and decides to bomb Russia! You have to be some new brands of stupid to think that's a good idea! And then he has the nerve to come begging you for help! Ivan has got to be pissed."
"Forget Ivan," Matthew sat up to look into Gilbert's eyes and Gilbert realized that Matthew was crying as he spoke, "What about all of those innocent people? Al bombed a place today! He probably killed thousands in the process and thousands more are going to die when Ivan comes looking for revenge! He started a nuclear war this morning without second thought about all the civilian lives that are going to and have already been lost just because he thinks it will make him look tough! It was a stupid party, we were all drunk, Ivan set a damn mouse trap on Al's chair and now thousands are going to die because Al had to blow things out of proportion! This is going to be the start of WWIII because Al got a little embarrassed!" The Canadian sighed and looked down in defeat before mumbling, "I wish he thought things through once in a while. Sometimes I wonder how we are even related."
Gilbert wrapped his arms around the other man's neck, pulling his head down to rest on his shoulder and softly hushing him. Matthew always managed to surprise him with his enormous capacity for compassion. While other countries would be worried about the damage it had done to them physically and strategically what they should do next, Matthew thought about the people. While other countries would be stressing about politics, Matthew was mourning each and every individual that was hurt and any more that will be as a result. The size of Matthew's heart-even after seeing everything he had as a country-was overwhelming, and it is one of the things that made Gilbert love him even more.
"Hush liebe, it's going to be alright. Alfred will figure it out. I'm sure things will work themselves out with as few casualties as they can manage."
"But it's so horrible," the Canadian mumbled into his shoulder, "It's horrible that even one person had to die to begin with." He sat up and wiped away his tears with his sleeves, standing and digging his phone out of his pocket. "I have to go call my boss before he has a heart attack." With those parting words he left the room, leaving Gilbert alone with Kumajiro curled up in the corner.
Gilbert stared blankly into space for a moment trying to decide what to do before a small yellow bird came floating in through an open window.
"Hallo Gilbird!" He greeted the bird as it came to sit on top of his head, nestled in his hair. "Gilbird, we have a problem. Alfred has, true to form, done something very stupid and now Mattie is upset. He is worried for his bruder and even more worried for all the people that his bruder's mistakes are going to affect. I don't like it when my Birdie is upset," Gilbert sighed in defeat and then continued, "I just don't know what to do Gilbird."
The little bird hopped off his head and down onto a table so they could look at each other. He began chirping and flapping his wings frantically, hopping around the table and looking adorable. He jumped up and fluttered his wings, momentarily suspending himself a few inches above the table. Gilbert laughed and shook his head at the bird.
"Of course! Why did I not think of it sooner! That is an awesome idea Gilbird! I will go get ready right now!" Gilbert flashed a devious smile before running off to get his things.
Moments later Matthew wandered into the room to find Gilbert gone and Gilbird sitting on the couch in his place. "Well, hello Gilbird, how nice to see you!" He tried to seem cheery as he spoke to the little bird, "Is there any chance that you could tell me where Gilbert went?" In response the bird simply shook, his feathers puffing up until he looked like a tiny fur ball.
Matthew shook his head and turned to walk into the next room, fully intent on searching the house for Gilbert, but what he saw stopped him in his tracks. The albino stood right in front of him, though Matt could barely tell it was him through the layers of clothes. All he could see was the bright red eyes peering over a scarf and a large bundle of warmth. Gilbert was holding a suitcase in each hand and gently placed them on the floor before jumping around excitedly.
It sounded like he was trying to speak, but Matthew could not hear him through the scarf, so he walked over and pulled it down so his mouth was exposed. "Birdie! I packed everything and we are all ready to go! We can leave as soon as you like, but I think that we should go relatively soon or I may get heat stroke in all these clothes and that would be totally unawesome."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Matthew asked, still gawking at the sight in front of him.
"Antarctica, Mattie! We are going to Antarctica! You said you wanted to go, so I arranged everything so that we can go and have an awesome time with the penguins, just like we said this morning!"
Matthew just stared for a moment as his brain tried to process what was happening. Were they really going to go to Antarctica? Was this really happening? What should he say? If they did go to Antarctica it would be freezing cold and he did not know much about how to survive on a deserted block of ice. Sure, Canada gets cold, but there is nothing down there. On the other hand, the happy puppy look on Gilbert's face showed that he would be devastated if they did not go. After all, he was just trying to cheer him up and take his mind off the tragedy. Being a popsicle would definitely occupy his brain.
"Alright, let me go put on warmer clothes and then we will leave."
*Magic time skip is magic*
The wind whipped up around them at some of the fastest speeds either of the two had ever seen. They held onto each other tightly for support, both very afraid that the other would fly away. It was very cold, much colder than was expected. The ice they stood on was thick, but not quite slippery, all of it being packed down snow that had fallen, been blown around, and then never moved. They entered the science lab where they were staying, reveling in the warmth that resided within it.
"I am not so sure this was such an awesome idea anymore. We have not even seen any penguins!" Gilbert's teeth chattered as he spoke and his nose and cheeks were almost as bright of a red as his eyes.
"We have only been here for a few hours; there is still time to see penguins. For now, let's go get some hot chocolate." Matthew was out of his warm outermost layers and began helping Gilbert get out of his after momentarily watching him struggle with the straps of the snow pants.
They wandered through the observatories, past buckets of water that used to be ice lined up for experimentation. They did not know or care what the scientists were doing there, all they knew was that it was warm, they had a place to sleep, and there was hot chocolate somewhere.
When they got to their room they sat down on the bed. There was only one in the room and it was small, but they did not mind. They cuddled close together, each cradling their hot chocolates close to their chest and letting the steam hit their faces to warm them up. Gilbert set down his drink and wrapped his arm around Matthew, pulling them closer so Matthew was lying back against his chest. He buried his face in the other man's curly hair, resting his forehead on his shoulder.
Matthew put his drink in one hand and reached the other hand behind him to entangle it with the white hairs on Gilbert's head. "I like it here, Gil. It's so peaceful. We don't have to worry about what is going on in the rest of the world. It's like a little frozen bubble and no one else can get in to bother us. It's just you and me and some scientists that won't bother us in our little frozen bubble."
Gilbert lifted his head just slightly to whisper in his ear, "And the penguins, the penguins are here too. They can stay. They can live in our little frozen bubble and dance for our entertainment. Penguins are awesome." Matthew chuckled as Gilbert put his head back down. He sipped his hot chocolate before placing it next to Gilbert's and pulling a blanket around them and snuggling closer into Gilbert for warmth.
When they awoke a few hours later it was to a quiet knocking on their door. Gilbert moaned sleepily before shouting for whoever it was to enter. One of the scientists opened the door with a wide smile on his face. He looked at them excitedly for a moment before gasping, "You two might want to get dressed and come with me."
They exchanged a tired look before turning to nod at the incredibly happy man. He turned and practically skipped away, bouncing with enthusiasm. The two of them stood, rubbing sleep from their eyes and then pulling on all the warm clothes they could find. They ended up looking like two giant marshmallows as they half waddled out the door, hand in hand.
They got to the lab exit and pushed the door open, instantly hit by the freezing winds and both pulling up the scarves around their necks to cover their noses. That was when they saw it. They looked up and over the hill they saw hundreds of little black dots in lines coming over the ice.
"Penguins!" Gilbert shouted, temporarily forgetting the cold and wicked winds in favour of bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning madly under his scarf. "There's Penguins Mattie! Penguins! Now they just have to dance and this trip will be complete! This is so awesome!"
Matthew laughed as they watched the penguins waddle out across the ice. He held Gilbert's hand tightly and then saw something bright out of the corner of his eye. The ice was shining and he looked up to the sky to see bright green and purple streaks painting the sky. The Aurora Australis shined brightly above their heads, lights of all different colors dancing across the sky. It looked absolutely brilliant and Matthew gasped, his grip tightening on Gilbert's hand as he pointed straight at the resplendent display.
Everything was perfect. They escaped their problems, forgot about the rest of the world and the stupid bomb and all of Alfred's stupidity. They saved those problems for another day, storing them back home as they cuddled together in their icy paradise. They did what they set out to do. They saw the penguins and the southern lights, and most importantly it was just the two of them, at the bottom of the world in their little frozen bubble.
A/N Well, now that is over. First of all, I apologize for any and all oocness and would be greatly appreciate any criticism. Second, I really hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you so much for reading!