AN: And... Here is the next chapter. I should be able to get the chapters out for the 1st and 4th, though the one on the 1st is going to be short. I hope you all like it!

The song is Those Nights by Skillet.

Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya and the song is not mine.

Matthew sighed when he laid eyes on his brother. Alfred was already sitting in his seat, albeit a smidge early to the meeting, and the Canadian could see it written all over his face. Al was disappointed. More than that even. He was sad and mellowed, which he did not like to see.

He bit his lip for a moment and glanced around the room, looking for Arthur. He found the Brit sitting across the table to the left Alfred and his own seat (because he wasn't about to let Alfred sit by himself even if they could talk from across the room).

Arthur didn't look very happy either, though his unhappiness seemed to bridge more on the line of uneasiness than anything else. To his slight surprise, Francis was still claiming the same seat next to the Englishman. Matthew's eyebrows furrowed momentarily before the other caught his eye.

He seemed a bit mellowed as well, but smiled slightly regardless. He glanced at Arthur and rolled his eyes briefly behind his back. 'I know,' his expression said, 'He's as stubborn as ever.' He then mouthed, "Working on it." Matthew chuckled softly and Francis's gaze shifted towards his brother, his expression falling a little. The azure eyes then found their way back to him.

He nodded slightly in response to the silent question. Alfred was doing alright and he was going to cheer Alfred up in some way. He knew how to do it, too. Taking his seat, the Canadian began to wonder when the best time would be to pull out his idea.

If he brought it out at the halfway point and somehow managed to convince Ludwig to allow him to sing it that could still give Alfred time afterwards to sadden again and he didn't like the odds of that. If he did it at the last ten minutes… He nodded internally. Yes, the last ten minutes would do very well.

'Bro?'

Matthew blinked and turned to his right, curious. 'Yeah, Al?'

Alfred shifted. 'Um…' He opened his mouth to say something, but then seemed to think twice and it fell shut again. He shrugged, glancing down at the table. 'Never mind. Continue.'

He smiled softly, supposing that that was the best permission he was going to get at the moment. Still, he hated seeing Al so down. 'Alfie, you know that Arthur is going to respond at some point, right? He's just stubborn and it's a difficult subject.'

Alfred nodded slowly. 'Yeah, I know…' He huffed quietly. 'Just don't want to wait another hundred years or so…'

'I don't think you will. Trust me.' He was sure Francis would force Arthur to respond against his will before he let him wait that long. 'Francis is,' he added air quotes, ', working on it.''

Alfred didn't smile, which caused him to frown. 'Okay…'

Oh, the last ten minutes would not be here soon enough.

Matthew shifted in his seat, glancing at the clock. There wasn't much time until the last ten minutes and Ludwig looked like he knew that he was almost in the clear. Deciding it was as good of a moment as any, he quietly pulled out his phone and put an ear bud in.

There was no need to play the music. He knew the German would notice soon enough. So he waited, drumming his fingers on his knee and then on the table.

It did not come. He was not called on. For a moment he assumed that Ludwig was only ignoring him, but when he turned he saw that the other hadn't noticed him. Matthew sighed and resisted the urge to grumble and/or wave his hands in the air. Of all the times… He noticed him when he actually wanted to be invisible, but not when he didn't? Ugh…

Someone whistled loudly, catching everyone's attention through the speech that had many drifting off. He couldn't tell who it was from the sound, though he caught Ludwig's eyes shifting around the room and finally (finally!) stopped on him.

The sky blue eyes shifted towards the clock. "Matthew-" He wanted to shout to the sky. Thank you! "-you can go in five minutes."

He could live with that, though the five minutes took much longer than he anticipated to wait through. He managed to catch a few curious looks around the room, though definitely not as many as Alfred had. Matthew smiled slightly and Ludwig finally stopped talking, nodded towards him, and sat in his chair with a quiet, "Go."

He pulled out his earphones and pulled the song up, not in as much of a hurry now that he knew he could do it. Without any hesitation he pressed play.

As soon as the music, an electric guitar and drums, filled the room Alfred stiffened. Matthew knew that they had both heard and sang to this song often enough. They knew the words by heart at this point and knew them enough to know who sang what.

Matthew leaned forward, whispering a quiet, "You sing first, Al." It was his own little bit of quiet encouragement.

Alfred sighed and nodded, leaning back in his chair. As soon as the guitar and drums abruptly switched to a piano and the temp slowed he took a breath. When he began to sing his voice was softer than normal, still having a twinge of negative emotions. "I remember when… we used to laugh… about nothing at all. It was better than going mad." He sent a glance towards Matthew, as if he would somehow forget to come in.

Matthew joined without a pause, their voices melding together to sound like it was one individual. He turned towards his brother, smiling in an attempt to get him to do the same. "From trying to solve all the problems we're going through-" Alfred dropped out quickly and Matthew's smile widened, meaning the next line he sang. "Forget 'em all… 'cause all those nights we would stand and-"

Alfred joined, he still wasn't smiling. This had happened before, though, and usually he started to feel better towards the second repeat of the chorus. "-never fall. Together… we faced it all."

He met his brother's eyes, like he could make all of the good memories return and the horrible ones fade with this line. The guitar and drums paused and he sang, trying to pull even a small smile from the other, "Remember when we'd…"

Matthew swore he could see a ghost of a smile pass on Alfred's face when they joined and the guitar and drums returned, stronger and more upbeat. "Stay up late and we'd talk all night in a dark room lit by the TV light-" He had to admit that just bringing those up made him want to burst out laughing. There had been one too many times they had been up until dawn on caffeine or had stumbled around after playing games. Or when they had literally been up all night long telling funny stories.

"-through all the hard times in my life, those night kept me alive!" Alfred almost had to try not to smile. He knew he had a reason to be upset, but Matt knew that too. He just didn't like seeing him sad and vice versa. "Listen to the radio play all night, didn't want to go home to another fight-" He could feel a small smile tugging at his lips, though it faded a little at the word fight.

"Through all the hard times in my life, those nights kept me alive!"

Matthew mouthed one of the "Oh"s that came up in the back ground, seeing that his brother's smile had faded in the brief break. He smiled when Alfred snorted. Soon enough it was time for him to begin the next verse. He hardly noticed that they had been slowly turning from facing the table to facing each other. It made it easier to switch that way, though.

His voice came out a little softer, a little faded as if he were seeing what he was singing about. "I remember when… we used to drive… anywhere but here-" Here would generally be the meeting building or some official place. "-as long as we'd forget our lives."

They joined for a moment, Alfred smiling for that short couple of seconds. "We were so young and confused that we didn't know-"

Matthew dropped out and his brother continued, frowning only a little for the next line. "-to laugh or cry-" When the next line came, however, and as it continued he was smiling widely. "Those night were ours, they will live and-"

They joined and both grinned. This was a promise they were going to keep no matter what. "-never die. Together… we'd stand forever."

Alfred sang the line this time, his eyes now as if there was nothing else that could be going on. "Remember when we'd-" He laughed quietly and Matthew joined.

"Stay up late and we'd talk all night in a dark room lit by the TV light-" He remembered that when either of them had had a particularly bad day they would go to the other's house and try to fix it; bring each other up after someone had brought them down. They'd done it when they were younger and still did it now. "-through all the hard times in my life, those night kept me alive!" They began bobbing their heads. "Listen to the radio play all night, didn't want to go home to another fight-" that would usually be Arthur or Francis in the early days. "Through all the hard times in my life, those nights kept me alive!"

They both did an over exaggerated mouthing of the "oh" in the background the first time around, but still sang together when the line came. "Those nights belong to us!"

The "oh" came again, two of them, but they elected to ignore it, instead laughing quietly and grinning. "There's nothing wrong with us!"

Again, they repeated, "Those nights belong to us." There wasn't another repeat of the second line and they waited, knowing what was coming, as the tempo slowed. The piano made its reappearance and both of their smiles fell this time.

"I remember when…" Alfred began, slumping a bit.

Matthew nodded, continuing. "We used to laugh…"

"And now I-" They never seemed to have time anymore.

"-Wish those-"

They joined, eyes closing briefly. "-nights would last…" their words seemed to echo, though it was probably just the recording. The tempo picked up again, the electric guitar and drums adding back in. The two smiled and Alfred quickly pulled his brother into a hug.

Matthew patted Alfred's back, laughing quietly. He caught the whispered question of, "Want to come over later," and nodded enthusiastically, though his voice was sincere. "Of course." Alfred laughed with him and they pulled back, now completely facing one another like they were going to have a conversation.

Alfred started, as usual, when the beat hit and it was time.. "Stay up late-"

"-and we'd talk all night-"

"-In a dark room-"

"-Lit by the-"

"-TV-"

"-Light-"

They grinned, moving their hands in a gesturing motion as they went back and forth. "Through all the-"

"-Hard times-"

"-In my-"

"-Life-"

They laughed as they joined. "-those nights kept me alive!" The second part of the chorus came and they sang it together, louder. The other nations could probably hear the smile in their voice if they didn't have a good view. "Listen to the radio play all night, didn't want to go home to another fight, through all the hard times in my life," they sang it even louder. "Those nights kept me alive!"

The chorus repeated again, the two trying not to laugh as they sang over the constant "oh" in the background. They still gestured to each other for their parts even though they didn't switch. "Stay up late and we'd talk all night in a dark room lit by the tv light through all the hard times in my life, those nights kept me alive!"

"Listen to the radio play all night, didn't want to go home to another fight, through all the hard times in my life-" They leaned forward, almost shouting at each other despite still singing, "Those nights kept me alive!"

The music slowed if only slightly and they continued. "Those nights belong to us." No one could ever take them away from them. The tempo continued and Alfred sang the last line, holding it out as the other instruments faded.

"There's nothing wrong…"

The room was quiet as they looked around, both smiling, and Matthew paused the music before it could change songs. They looked at the clock and, seeing as it was now time to leave, stood. They hardly said a word to anyone else, barely waiting for Ludwig to dismiss them, only planning all of the things they were going to do when they got to Alfred's house.

AN: Thank you for reading! Sorry the chapter was a bit shorter, but let me know what you think!

Also: 20 chapters! Woo! Thank you to anyone who has reviewed, favorited, followed, etc. You guys are awesome!