Disclaimer: I don't own Axis Powers Hetalia or any of its characters.

To know that one has a secret is to know half the secret itself.

~ Henry Ward Beecher

Chapter 3 - Conversations With A Roommate

" Le Château du Marianne has a rather strict schedule," Monsieur Bonnefoy was explaining to Matthew, as they looped out of Master Wang's room and re-entered the kitchen. " We do not tolerate any sort of dawdling. Everyone has a part to do, whether they be chores, practice or helping the others in preparing for the night's performance. Depending on your position and profession, your schedule will vary."

She nodded, doing her best to remember the directions of where they were going.

" Most of the meals will be provided by yourself," he continued, leading her back into the main diner and theater section. " A certain amount of money is specifically added in your salary for that reason. A kitchen, completed with a refrigerator and stove will be available to use in your own room. The only exceptions would be dinners and certain occasions. However, you are always welcome to bring your food in the dining hall. Which is there." He offhandedly pointed to a room where voices were heard and the fresh scent of breakfast was detected.

Now they were walking down a hallway and heading towards the staircase. " Speaking of salaries, you will receive it every one week on Fridays. More will be added or detracted depending on your contribution to Le Château and on the ample flock of guests we receive. A small amount of the salary will also contribute to the rent, which will be split between you and your roommate."

She snapped out of her amazed wonder of gazing at the trunks and clothes valet that were lined up with multitudes of bright, colorful costumes to gape at him. " My roommate?" she stuttered out.

Monsieur Bonnefoy frowned. " Why yes. We don't have enough rooms to lodge all of our performers, so we must share. Didn't I mention that before?"

Her stomach sinking, Matthew quickly shook her head, not really paying attention to his next words. She had never put much thought into sharing a room with someone else. The dread of someone, especially another man, discovering that she was really a girl and getting her kicked out made her feel the thin sheet of sweat down the back of her neck.

" - place two gentlemen or two ladies together. So you won't be roomed with a girl. Though you wouldn't mind that, would you, Matthieu?" Monsieur Bonnefoy teased.

She gave a quick, cheery laugh. I'll worry about this problem later, she sternly told herself.

So caught up in her thoughts, that she didn't realize she bumped into a man at the first landing of the stairs. " I'm so sorry!" Embarrassed, Matthew ducked her head in apology. " I didn't mean to run into you."

The man, with messy brown hair and curiously green eyes, merely gazed at her, a small, sleepy "hm?" purring from his lips.

" Good morning, Heracles," Monsieur Bonnefoy cheerfully greeted him. " Seems that you have just met Matthieu here. He will joining your troupe of actors later, after he has settled in."

The man watched her carefully, his gaze piercing and searching, just as Master Wang's had done to her, though it seemed much more intense. " A pleasure, δεσποινίς," he finally said, taking her hand and kissing it.

Heat rushed to her face as Monsieur Bonnefoy spluttered indignantly on what he believed was her behalf. " Heracles! I just told you that Matthieu is a boy! Un garçon! You can't do that sort of thing to him!"

" ... I see." Heracles barely appeared fazed, though he did release her hand.

Matthew quickly kept a mask of humiliation and indignation. " It's all right, Monsieur Bonnefoy," she said, though the blush on her cheeks was not faked. " It is a common mistake I often get," she quipped innocently. Though she secretly wondered whether Heracles' little action was done on purpose or not.

" Well, if Matthieu says so," Monsieur Bonnefoy huffed. " I suppose that things went well last night," he brusquely asked Heracles, almost out of nowhere.

Heracles' eyes appeared to flick fleetingly in her direction. " Yes."

Feeling utterly baffled at their conversation, Matthew could only stare down at her toes and remain quiet.

" Well, looks like I better get Matthieu to his room." Monsieur Bonnefoy continued smiling airily as if nothing had happened.

Heracles nodded, glancing at her. " Nice meeting you," he murmured to her, before continuing on his way.

" Come along, Matthieu. One more floor," Monsieur Bonnefoy urged her.

" What happened last night?" she asked inquisitively as they climbed the stairs.

" Here we are!" he chirped, completely ignoring her question. " The second floor and your new home. Just follow me down here."

Questions about the boggling conversation that just took place between Monsieur Bonnefoy and Heracles burned in her mind, but grudgingly, she held them back. Right now, the dilemma with this new roommate of hers came first. " I won't be troubling my roommate, will I?" she anxiously wondered out loud, as they walked past several rooms.

They reached a door near the end of the hall. From behind it, she could snatches of swearing and grumbles, along with a heavy smell of burnt food. " I certainly hope it wouldn't be a problem. And you have already met him anyways," Monsieur Bonnefoy said as he fumbled with the key, slipping it into the keyhole. " I suppose that first impressions are not always everything, so I hope that both you and him can mend your - "

He barely opened the door halfway when there was the breaking of a plate, blackened eggs and bacon smashing to the floor, as a voice violently shouted out. " Jones!? What are you doing in my room?!"

Matthew gave a shrill sort of squawk, realizing her new roommate was none other than Adelio, who had mistaken her for this Mr Jones and was the one responsible for her bruised cheek and bandages around her palms. Fortunately, before he could leap towards her, Monsieur Bonnefoy stepped in, looking severely displeased.

" Enough of this, Adelio," he said, lips pursed in exasperation. And almost immediately, the burlier man deflated in his outburst and ducked his head in embarrassment once again. " Whatever feud you and Mr Jones have for one another, do not drag Matthieu into it. He is now a member of Le Château and should be treated with respect, not with fists and insults. Do I make myself clear?"

" Yes, sir," Adelio mumbled.

Monsieur Bonnefoy would have continued his lecture if a brown-haired boy didn't run to the doorway, breathing heavily, clutching his chest. " Monsieur! There's trouble at the dining hall! Vash and Roderich had gotten into a fight!" he frantically blurted out.

The Frenchman sighed. " Again? I shall be there shortly, Toris. Apologies, Matthieu, I must cut our tour short." He turned regretfully to her. " I hope that these - misfortunes from today won't discourage you from working here."

" None at all," she sincerely said.

" I'll come by later," he promised her. Shooting Adelio one last warning look, Monsieur Bonnefoy left with the boy Toris following at his heels, leaving the two of them alone.

There was a painful stretch of silence between her and Adelio, as they both stared at each other, not knowing what to say or what to do. Adelio was staring at the mess of food and porcelain, while Matthew nervously scratched the back of her head. She was contemplating whether she should introduce herself properly to him, when Adelio bent down, about to pick up the broken jagged fragments of glass without any protection or care for his hands.

" You shouldn't do that!" Matthew quickly snatched his hand before they could pick up the pieces. " If you do that, your fingers will get cut," she scolded him, like a mother would to her child. " Is there a broom or a sweeper I could use?" she asked, glancing around the room.

With a careless shrug, Adelio jerked a thumb to the corner of the room, which Matthew hurried over and picked up a dusty broom and dustpan that gave the appearance that it had never been touched before. Quickly, she swept up the pieces and bits of food into the dustpan before tossing them into the garbage can.

Making a noncommittal sound in his throat, he stood up. " I suppose I should make breakfast for the both of us," Adelio muttered, heading to the fridge.

" It's all right. I can do it for you. After all, I was the one who caused your first breakfast to get ruined." She flashed him a friendly smile, dropping her bag to the side and reaching the fridge before him and opened the fridge, peering inside, taking note of the few scattered eggs in the carton and a soon-to-be empty package of frozen bacon.

" There isn't a lot," Adelio mumbled over her shoulder.

To her, this could make a fine meal on its own. " No, this is just perfect." She beamed happily at him, which made him raise his eyebrows in confusion. Rolling up her sleeves, she picked up the egg carton and package. " Can I borrow your frying pan? And some oil?"

Perplexed and apparently not used to having a roommate who could cook, Adelio pointed out the items for her and stepped back, watching her curiously as Matthew eagerly worked. She beat and stirred the eggs until they were a bright yellow. With her other hand, she pressed the sizzling bacon strips against the frying pan, flipping them when they were ready. Satisfied, she tossed them to an aside plate. Then, focusing her attention back to the batter of eggs, she carefully tipped them into the frying pan and began turning them once the familiar mouthwatering scent of eggs appeared.

" Here you go," Matthew announced as she laid a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of him and placed one for herself.

Almost instantly, Adelio began wolfing down the food, his eyes widening in delight. " This is - really - good," he exclaimed between bites. Pleased that she was able to help out her new roommate, she helped herself to her own breakfast with a little more relish.

" My name is Matthew Williams," she introduced herself after a moment.

Adelio filled his mouth, happily chewing before answering. " I knew that. Bonnefoy said it earlier. And I figured you know my name too after hearing Bonnefoy say it so many times." He glowered briefly. " Sorry about what happened this morning. I didn't mean to - normally, I wouldn't act that irrationally. You're not hurt that bad, right?"

" It's nothing that I can't handle." She absently flexed her hands and touched her cheek, pleased to see that they didn't hurt anymore. Master Wang's medicine worked its magic quicker than she had expected.

" Good." He took a gulp out of his drink. " So how did you end up here?"

" I was looking for a job," she lied smoothly, just as she had done earlier in the interview. " I only got hired this morning."

Adelio raised an eyebrow in interest. " Bonnefoy was cutting back from hiring people for some time now. What did you do to convince him?"

The thought of deceiving Monsieur Bonnefoy and Master Wang and now Adelio did make her feel slightly guilty. " I'm an actor," she muttered, feeling the foreign words in her mouth mingling bitterly with her breakfast.

" You must have had some good acting skills to persuade Bonnefoy," he chuckled, not noticing her abashed face. " Did you meet anyone else yet?"

" I met Master Wang. He was the one who fixed up the cuts," she replied. " And I met another actor on my way up here. He was coming out from the first floor. His name was Heracles, if I remembered right."

A scowl flashed Adelio's face, an expression that Matthew wasn't sure whether it was in annoyance or displeasure. It certainly surprised her. Heracles seemed like such a nice person. A little strange and peculiar, but otherwise harmless. " I didn't know you didn't like Heracles," she commented.

Now it was his turn to be surprised. " Huh? No, I never said I didn't like Heracles." His mouth curled unpleasantly at his next words. " It's the first floor I don't like," he finally admitted.

She frowned, racking her brains for any reason that the first floor would appear unattractive, even to a person as tough as Adelio. A sudden thought crossed her mind and her hands flew to her mouth in horror.

" It's not haunted, is it?" Matthew asked in a panicking whisper, her face growing pale at the thought of ghosts and other supernatural creatures roaming the floor, peering through windows, knocking on doors and howling in the middle of nights. She shuddered, very thankful that Monsieur Bonnefoy had not placed her there.

Adelio chuckled in amusement at her horrified grimace, thinking how kids these days had a wild imagination. Absently, Matthew thought it was a nice change compared to the incensed expression he had earlier. " Of course not, niño! Don't know where you got that idea."

" If it's not haunted, what goes on at that floor?"

The mirth almost slid immediately off his face. He cleared his throat distinctly. " Just forget about what I just said. It's nothing."

" Then why was Heracles there in the first place?" she pressed, her curiosity tweaked.

" I said, just forget about it, all right?" This time, there was a note of finality in his voice that made her shut her mouth.

They ate in silence for some time, before Adelio sighed, placing his fork down. " Look, I just don't think I'm the right person to tell you what goes on at the first floor. It's none of my business. And I'm just warning you that you should be careful that you don't nose around and make it your business either. Some people are sensitive about what goes on there and that would just be a whole heck of a mess for us to clean up afterwards."

Still itching to know, Matthew wisely chose not to pursue the matter. She supposed they would tell her after she began working and after they trusted her a little bit more. " I didn't mean to pry," she apologized.

" No, para nada." Adelio waved his hand casually in the air. " No offense taken, niño. You're new here and you're bound to have questions."

She carelessly fiddled her last piece of bacon. " It seems I have a lot to learn about," she finally said.

" That wouldn't be a problem," he shrugged. " Bonnefoy hired you himself, sí? Since he did, he would know if you would fit in with us. We're a bunch of misfits anyways, as I like to see it. Though if you were a girl, he would hire you in less than a heartbeat," Adelio added with a wry grin.

Unnerved, Matthew collected herself enough to stutter out, " Why would that affect Monsieur Bonnefoy's decision to hire me?"

" There is a reason why the few waitresses we have get the most attention here." The grin on Adelio's face widened. " And if you've been here as long as me, you would see that most of the clients that come by are men."

Flushing a deep red, she was glad that she had chosen this disguise. She wouldn't have been able to bear the customers' shamelessly flirtatious behavior. " I suppose I was very lucky then," she shrewdly remarked.

Adelio chortled, not realizing the double meaning behind her words. " You're telling me! But I wouldn't put it past Bonnefoy to have hired you partly because of your looks too, niño. A young boy like yourself is bound to attract some attention. Particularly with the female customers."

A faint blush colored her cheeks. Just when she thought she could avoid any attention, her looks managed to backfired on her yet again. She didn't think she looked that attractive. Against the pretty blond girl she saw earlier and the handsome Heracles, even to Monsieur Bonnefoy and Master Wang, she paled greatly in comparison to them.

" You speak too highly of me," Matthew mumbled.

" I speak the truth," Adelio replied, grinning.

" Now you're teasing me."

" All right then, niño. A toast to your terrible, repulsive looks," he snorted, raising his mug towards her. Despite her annoyance, she returned likewise.

Their cups clinked softly together. " Welcome to Le Château du Marianne," Adelio heartily said before downing his drink.

~.~.~.~

Author's Notes:

δεσποινίς (Greek) - Miss

Un garçon (French) - A boy

Niño (Spanish) - Kid

No, para nada (Spanish) - No, not at all

sí (Spanish) - Yes

Like France and China, notice how Greece casually mistaken Canada as a girl and didn't seem too surprised about it when he was told otherwise. Hmm ...