A short story completely unrelated to anything else I've written: So a couple of times in the past few months, people have told me that, when they first met me, they found me intimidating. This is funny because I'm probably the softest bugger you're every likely to meet. I told my best friends this, and her first response was 'yes, you are.' She said that, to people who didn't know me, I was very aloof and difficult to talk to, and when talking to strangers I come across as blunt and scary.

So apparently I'm Sweden. Enjoy this chapter.

Unwanted Attention

The sun had yet to rise when Romano woke up, sleep disturbed by the sound of scrubbing and sobbing. His entire body was aching, but the crying was concerning him, so he got up, gasping from the cold before he wrapped his duvet around himself and went into the living room. Alfred was on his hands and knees, scrubbing the carpet where the spilled ice-cream had long since congealed.

"Al?" he called softly "What are you doing? That can wait."

Without looking at him, Alfred sat up, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand and gasping a few times to stop them flowing.

"If I leave it, the carpet will get sticky." he said quietly "We'll lose our security deposit."

"Even so..."

Fishing his arm out from under his warm duvet, Romano put his hand on Alfred's shoulder. He was shocked when Alfred flinched away from him, shaking like he was going to start crying again.

"I'm sorry." the blond all but whispered "I just keep fucking up. I couldn't help Arthur, I drove Matty away, and now this..."

He finally turned to look at Romano, blue eyes completely bloodshot, nose red raw.

"I'm sorry." he said again "This was the worst mistake of my life. Please don't stop being my friend..."

With a loud sob, he started to cry again, shoulders slumping. This had been a mistake in his eyes? That wasn't what Romano wanted to hear at all. Alfred grabbed the duvet, burying his face in it.

"God, I'm such a fuck up!"

Romano knelt down, putting his arms around Alfred's shoulders. Al held him tightly, like he was afraid he would run away, and continued to cry on his shoulder, sobbing and spluttering uncontrollably.

Well... fuck. Romano had clearly made the wrong move – this wasn't his intended outcome, not by a long short.

"Hey, it's okay." he soothed, rubbing his back "It's takes two to tango, you know?"

"I'm sorry..." Al just repeated "I'm sorry..."

"Yeah," Romano sighed "Me too."

"So..."

"Apparently Matthew and Madeline starting dating."

"I see."

Alfred ignored his older brothers, who stood at the doorway of his home bedroom staring at his back. He didn't want to talk to them. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He wanted to curl up into a ball and die.

"Is that really enough to get this upset about?" Arthur wondered.

"He's just being melodramatic." Francis figured "He'll cheer up when he's had something to eat."

"Looks to me like he's been 'cheering up' a lot lately."

"Says the man whose fiancé has put on a stone and a half in the past six months."

"It's puppy fat."

"He's 30."

"It ever occur to you that maybe I just like him fat?"

"I try not to think about your sex life."

"Piss off!" Alfred finally yelled.

He curled up into a ball on his bed, burying his head under his pillow. He came home to get away from his shame for a while, he didn't need a commentary from the peanut gallery. Since he had his back to them, Alfred didn't notice his older brothers 'paper, scissors, rock', Francis winning, smirking and walking away with a wave. Arthur flipped the 'v' sigh at his back before walking into Alfred's room, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He sat down on the edge of Alfred's bed, rubbing his back.

"Hey, kid." he greeted "You're not really that upset about Matty getting a girlfriend, are you?"

Alfred didn't want to talk about it. Only Romano knew about his feelings for Matthew, and look how that had turned out. He wanted to be comforted, but he didn't want to admit the truth. Reluctantly, he took the pillow off his head, hugging it.

"Kinda." he admitted "We've always been together, and now we're not... I hardly hear from him at all any more, and when I do he tells me something like this. It makes me feel like he means more to me than I do to him."

"Hm." Arthur hummed supportively, still rubbing his back "I understand. Nothing's changed for you – you're still in the same town with the same people, so it's weird for you not having your brother around. Matthew's on the other side of the planet, meeting new people, doing new things, so time's just flying for him. I'm sure he doesn't mean to ignore you."

Alfred sat up, whole body feeling heavy. Arthur put his arms around him as he put his head on his big brothers shoulder.

"I feel like I'm missing a part of me." he confessed "And I went and did something stupid."

"Did you eat it?" Arthur joked.

"Don't you start."

"I'm sorry. What did you do?"

Alfred was reluctant. Would Arthur judge him? He wasn't really like that, but brothers do tease...

"I slept with Romano." he admitted, not able to look at Arthur a moment.

"And you didn't mean to?" Arthur asked.

"I was upset." Alfred went on "He was there. One thing let to another. It was a mistake."

"You got carried away." the older brother confirmed "And now you're afraid you're going to ruin your relationship with him."

"Yeah..."

Alfred sighed deeply. At least Arthur wasn't teasing him – being gay, he wasn't judging him for sleeping with another man, either. He nestled into his older brothers shoulder like an upset child.

"Do you... think it counts?" he asked "If it was a mistake?"

"What do you mean?"

Alfred felt his face grow hot.

"Mu... s... first time..." he mumbled.

"Ah. Sorry, but it kinda does. Well, it depends on how far you went."

"Walking is kind of hard today."

"It counts."

"What should I do?"

Arthur 'hmm'd again, patting Alfred's back as he thought.

"I know you're upset." he started "But you're not children any more. Your relationship with Matthew will be fine: even when he gets married and starts having children, you'll still be brothers. It's your relationship with Romano I'd be worried about."

Alfred took his head off Arthur's shoulder, not quite looking him in the eye.

"You think he won't accept my apology?" he asked.

"I think you need to listen to what he's saying." Arthur told him "For someone like Romano to have sex with another man... I think he loves you a lot, and maybe he didn't know any other way to show it. If you keep calling what happened a mistake, you'll probably hurt his feelings."

Oh... Alfred hadn't thought of that. He hadn't really thought about Romano's feelings at all... Great, he was a terrible friend as well as a terrible brother. He put his head back on his big brothers shoulder.

"Please don't tell Francis." he begged.

"I won't." he promised "Because you just know he'll tell Antonio, and we'll be finding bits of your organs around town for months."

Ah... he hadn't thought of that either...

Matthews ears were stinging. His older brothers had called to congratulate him on his new (and first) relationship, but it had quickly descended into a lecture about contacting Alfred more often. Apparently he hadn't taken Matthews happy news too well... Matthew couldn't admit to them that he knew about Alfred's feelings for him – it was a big secret, afteral – so just promised to call him more often.

"I already email him every day." Matthew pointed out "What more does he want?"

"He just misses you." Madeline figured, sat securely on his lap with his arms around her "I understand how he feels."

"You can't miss him if you're never apart." Marie-Elise muttered, arms crossed over her chest.

Alice just shook her head at her. It was starting to get late this Saturday night, but none of them had anywhere else to be. Madeline was already half asleep, eyes closed as she listened to the movie playing in the dark living room. She complained about being chilly, resulting in Matthew holding her a little tighter. Sat on opposite arm chairs, Marie-Elise focused on the movie to ignore the boy with his arms around her daughter while Alice embroidered under the light of the floor lamp.

"You know," Maddie thought, voice full and sleepy "Your brother Arthur kind of reminds me of mummy."

"They are kind of similar." Matty agreed.

"I have nicer eyebrows." Alice pointed out casually "But your brother had really nice skin."

"Annoying, isn't it?" Matty laughed.

"Please tell me he wasn't the hairdresser." Marie-Elise begged.

"He's not."

"Thank goodness."

Feeling Maddie going limp in his arms, Matty shook her gently.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked quietly "You want to go to bed?"

"Mmm." she agreed, waking slightly "'Kay."

Bidding goodnight to her parents, he gently herded Maddie out of the lounge and up the stairs to her bedroom, holding her by the shoulders. She continued to yawn and rub her eyes as he sat her down on her bed and removed her slippers.

"I'm sorry." she said suddenly.

"Oh? For what?" he asked.

"I can't do interesting things." she elaborated "Amelia and Kevin are always doing interesting things at night, but I still get tired so fast. I'm sorry about that. You can go out without me, you know?"

"Don't be silly." Matthew assured "It won't be fun without you. I'd rather be at home with you than drinking with them."

"It's not even 10 on Saturday and I'm going to bed." she pointed out "I feel like I'm robbing you of your youth."

"My youth can wait." he went on, leaning up to kiss her on the forehead "When you're stronger, we'll do all those things together."

Maddie pulled a face, blushing deeply.

"About that... there's something else that needs to wait... I mean..."

She looked up at him, obvious exhaustion disappearing for a moment as she looked stern and embarrassed at the same time.

"It's... sex." she went on "It's not that I don't want to... You are my first boyfriend, and the doctor says..."

He kissed her on the forehead again, silencing her, before kneeling on the floor before her bed.

"I've never had sex either." he admitted "And I'm not in any rush: I can wait until you're ready."

"Really?" she confirmed, obviously feeling guilty.

"Of course." he assured "Sex isn't that important."

She smiled at him, exhaustion returning to her face. He leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead.

"For what it's worth," she said "Once the doctor gives it the all clear, we're not leaving the bedroom for a week."

Matthew couldn't help but laugh, feeling himself blush.

"I look forward to it."

Alfred walked back to the flat on campus rather than take the bus, the clear, cold air of autumn blowing the cobwebs from his mind and allowing him time to think. He had really screwed up, but it wasn't unsalvageable: Matty would never know, and he would apologise to Romano properly. He knew he had to get over these feelings for his brother, knew they were wrong and kind of disturbing, but he had never scrutinised his feelings enough to know where his love for his brother ended and his love for Matthew started. Would he really have to think about these things now? He was kind of scared of where that kind of thinking would take him.

What if he never got over his feelings for Matthew? What if his feelings just got stronger, and he got bitter and angry and jealous as time went on? He didn't think he was the kind of person who could just be happy that the person he loved was happy – he was more selfish than that. He would want to keep the one he loved all to himself, but Matthew would hate him for certain... He supposed that perhaps he should talk to someone, but he couldn't even think the word 'psychiatrist' without thinking about Patrick...

As he opened the door to his flat, the smell of beef and garlic wafted out on the warm air. Romano was in the kitchenette, apron around himself, pouring red wine into the frying pan. He looked around as Alfred closed the door behind him, both blushing awkwardly.

"Hey." Al greeted.

"Welcome home." Romano replied "Where have you been all day?"

"I went home for a bit." he admitted.

"Yeah? Well, you should have answered your phone, because now you got no say in dinner."

"Sorry. What are we having?"

"Burgers and chips."

"Really?"

Alfred hadn't eaten burgers since his diet had started, especially something like chips! Needless to say, strict Romano relenting on the program was a surprise. Said Romano blushed a little, looking annoyed as he turned back to the stove.

"If we're having burgers, what's with the wine?" Alfred remembered, walking forward to peek at what he was making.

"I said we're having burgers and chips, not processed shit!" he immediately barked "The burgers are made from steak, minced by myself at Carriedos kitchen this morning, with garlic, onion and black peppercorns. The chips are made from potatoes grown in Tonis back garden, picked fresh from the earth this morning and marinated in-"

Romano stopped talking when Alfred hugged him from behind. He knew what Romano was doing – this was his way of apologizing. Romano wasn't the type to come out and just say 'sorry', but after so long Alfred knew his ways.

"I'm sorry I did something stupid." Alfred said, putting his head on his friends shoulder.

"Well, I let you." was as far to 'sorry' as Romano would go "Let's put this behind us, eh?"

"So we're still friends?"

"Like we could ever not be." Romano spat "Go take a damn shower, I can still smell Francis' cologne clinging to you. Smells like you just walked through a brothel!"

Alfred snickered. If Romano was insulting him, then everything was okay between them. He let Romano go, pulling off his jacket as he headed to the bathroom. He didn't notice Romano turn around to watch him, sighing before turning back to his cooking.

Ugh, Mondays were the same no matter what country you were in. Maddie and Amelia had class first thing (what kind of sadist schedules advanced mathematics for a Monday morning?) and Kevin couldn't be roused on any day before 10am, so Matthew wondered around campus on his own before his classes started at 11. He knew Canada would be colder than England, but he wasn't prepared for how much colder, jogging slightly in place as he looked at the bus timetable: there was a movie they all wanted to see, so he had been elected to organise the trip.

"Heads up!"

Matthew looked around. A football flew through the air towards him. He took it on the chest easily, kneeing it up and few times before grabbing it. It had been a while since he played football (it was more Alfred's thing), but it made him feel at home to have a football in his hands, not one of those glorified rugby balls.

Another student ran over, large net full of footballs tossed over his shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry!" he said "That one got away from me. Hey, you from Europe?"

"Yeah." Matthew answered "How can you tell?"

The student laughed as he put the net down, tying his dreadlocks back away from his face. He was pretty tall – taller than Matthew even – and while he looked heavyset, it was kind of hard to tell if it was fat or muscle.

"Americans don't play keepie-upie." he told him "They'd try to throw the ball back!"

Matthew considered how Kevin and Amelia would react in front of an errant football, and he couldn't deny that there may be some truth in that assessment. He handed the ball back to the student.

"I didn't know there was a football club." he mentioned.

"It's only for girls." the student grumbled as he put it back in the net "And they play it like a bunch of five-year-olds. I'm here on a sports scholarship, so I gotta coach a children's team."

"Sounds rough." Matthew sympathised "Are they any good?"

"They will be!" the student swore "I'm Carlos, previously from the Republic of Cuba. You?"

"I'm Matthew." he introduced, shaking the offered hand "From Britain. I'm doing environmental studies."

"Solid." Carlos complimented "So, one foreigner to another – how freaked out are you by the portion sizes here?"

"Fairly freaked out." Matthew laughed "My American friends are even more shocked – they say it's much smaller than what they're used to!"

"Good, I thought it was just me! Are you busy right now? I could use a hand moving some equipment – I'll pay you back with a carton of ice-cream."

Well, Matthew wasn't busy, but he didn't like the idea of moving sports equipment around...

"What kind of ice-cream?" he asked.

Carlos snorted with laughter, breaking out into a wide grin.

"I like you already."

Something had definitely happened between Alfred and Romano, and Jacques was more than a little annoyed that neither of them was talking about it. He could tell because Romano was sulky and Alfred couldn't look him in the eye. However, Alfred did seem to have renewed determination where his exercise was concerned, thundering along with bulldog determination on the treadmill. Jacques couldn't even say anything without letting those two know that he could read them... He watched Alfred run, trying to figure it out. Had they slept together or something?

He handed Al his bottle of water as his session ended, and he seemed triumphant.

"I'll fit back in those jeans in no time!" he swore "I put them on today – I can't do them up and they're tight as hell, but I got them on!"

"That's great progress!" Jacques agreed "Have you thought about where you want to go after that?"

"Hm? After?"

"Yeah – you're the type who puts on weight easily." Jacques pointed out gently "It'd benefit you to have a regular fitness regime. You wanna tone up or stay slim?"

Alfred thought a moment. While it was true that Alfred was that type, a good diet and moderate exercise would probably keep him healthy enough, but Jacques didn't want his alone time with the cutie to be cut short when he finally fit back in those jeans.

"I don't want to bulk up." Al decided finally "I'm joining the police after uni, and Vash says being fast is more useful than being strong, since you have to chase people sometimes. Maybe I should work on sprinting?"

"You strike me as more of a marathon runner, but we'll work on it."

They went to the changing room to shower, and Jacques couldn't help checking him out just a little bit. The weight loss was starting to be noticeable.

"You're in a good mood today." he pointed out "Did something good happen?"

"Not even close!" Alfred said happily.

"Really?" Jacques laughed.

"I just decided to change my attitude!" Al admitted as he scrubbed the soap over his arm "Being miserable's not going to change anything, and I'm stoked that my diet is working, so I've decided to be happy."

"Then something bad happened?" Jacques pried.

Alfred's happy face fell a moment, eyes going far away, before he forced his smile back on.

"Matty got a girlfriend." he told him "It shouldn't really have been a shock, but it kinda was. I guess I wasn't ready to share him, you know?"

That son of a bitch! How long was he going to keep leading Alfred on like this? And now he had a girlfriend?! Alfred couldn't just be okay with that!

Jacques bit his tongue, washing the product from his hair. He was struck by inspiration.

"Wanna go for a drink?"

Alfred's tolerance for alcohol wasn't very good – two pints and it was time to leave the pub. Instead of going back their their place, where Romano was sure to mother hen Alfred into bed, Jacques half carried him back to his room. He knew he still had some beer in his mini-fridge, cracking open a few cans the moment they got back. This room being so small, Alfred ended up sitting on Jacques' bed while he set up a movie on his computer.

The cutie got talkative when he was drunk, going on about his brothers and his niece and his video-games and, finally, getting onto the subject of Matty. Jacques sipped at his beer as Alfred flipped through his phone to find a picture of him. He smirked triumphantly, holding out the phone for him to see when he had found it.

"This's Mathy!" he slurred "Ain't he cute?!"

Jacques took the phone to get a better look. Alfred and Matty at graduation, two older men with them. The two were very similar looking.

"You could be brothers." he noted aloud.

"Whatcha mean 'could'?!" Al cried, falling about laughing "Dummy Jack!"

Alfred laughed too hard, falling over onto his side on the bed, giving Jacques a chance to flip through the pictures. He was curious as to who all these people where, since other than Romano and Matty, they all seemed to be much older. Family, perhaps? Alfred stopped laughing, panting a little from the exertion.

"S'not fair." he moaned "Why do I have to share him? Why do I have to be the one left alone?"

His blue eyes started to water as he curled up into a ball. Jacques put the phone down on his desk and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing Alfred's back reassuringly.

"Why?"

"Al-"

"Why did we have to be born brothers? Why do I have to feel this way? It's not fair!"

Jacques took the open can from Alfred as he started to cry, setting it on the side table. They looked alike because they really were brothers? No wonder he and Romano never spoke of him. Jacques was a little shocked, of course, but never having met Matty he wasn't as shocked as he probably should have been. He laid a hand on Alfred's soft blond hair.

"You really love him, don't you?" he asked.

"I know I shouldn't." Al admitted "But I can't help it."

"Hey, it's okay." Jacques soothed "All of us have had feelings for people we shouldn't as some point or another. You just gotta get over him."

"You think I don't know that?!" Alfred squealed "You think it's that easy?! I miss him to much!"

Jacques silenced him with his mouth, slipping in his tongue when he tried to speak. He couldn't help himself – he slipped his hand down the back of Alfred's jeans, coping a handful as he tried to slip them off. He was stopped as Alfred shoved him away.

"Stop that!" he yelled.

"Al, you need to get over Matty." Jacques pointed out "The best way to do that is to find a new love. I can be that love."

Al pulled a confused face, mind clouded with alcohol.

"That doesn't sound right." he thought.

Jacques kissed him again, and was again pushed away.

"No!" he said loudly "I said stop! I want to go home!"

Well, shit. Jacques backed off. Alfred's face was completely red, still crying from before, as he kept Jacques at arms length.

"I'm sorry." he said sincerely "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm not scared!" Al insisted "I just want to go home!"

"You can't go home – you've had too much to drink. Just stay here: I won't do anything you don't want."

Alfred pushed Jacques away completely, getting off the bed and grabbing his phone.

"Al-"

"Go away!"

He wiped the tears from his eye as he left, slamming the door behind him. That hadn't ended how he had hoped: he would have to take things slow with Alfred, it seemed. At least Matty wasn't his ex afteral – Jacques had a better chance of seducing him now.

Keen not to let the night end on such a bad note, Jacques grabbed an extra jacket and ran to catch up with him, finding him standing right outside of the halls door. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from Jacques, phone still in his hand.

"Glad I caught you." he said "It's cold out here – won't you come back inside?"

"No." Al said immediately.

"It's cold and you've been drinking – you'll never make it home without a jacket."

"Go away."

"Al-"

"I've called someone to pick me up, so it's fine." he sulked.

So cute... Regardless of what he said, he had still been drinking, and Jacques was uncomfortable leaving him alone. He held out the extra jacket.

"Put this on." he suggested "I'll wait with you."

"Don't bother."

He waited with him anyway. Hetalia was a pretty small town, his lift arriving in less than ten minutes. Jacques thought that, from a distance, he looked like a big man, but felt the urge to run for the hills as he walked up to them, honestly intimidated by the older man size. Alfred, however, looked unhappy.

"Why are you the one who came?" he pouted.

"Arthur's got a cold, and there was no-one to watch Michelle." the older man told him, clearly not happy himself "Why does a nearly 19 year-old boy need someone to pick him up anyway?"

The older man examined him a moment.

"Have you been drinking?" he realised "How much did you have?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Al responded "I wanna go home."

The older man turned to Jacques, who felt himself shrink against the wall. He could tell by the way he scowled that the older man immediately didn't like him. He grabbed a fistful of Jacques jacket, pulling him up to his face.

"You molest my brother in law?" he demanded.

"No!" he answered instantly.

"Good. Because that would be a very unwise thing to do. I might have to do something bad if that happened. You know what I mean?"

"Yes, sir!"

The older man released him, letting him fall back to the ground, before taking Alfred by the shoulder. Al swayed a little as he was led away. Jacques held his breath until the large man disappeared, relieved that he had stopped when Alfred told him to: he didn't want to mess with someone that big.

He went back inside, cursing from the cold. He would have to find a new way to get into Alfred's pants.

Kids: don't get people you like drunk just to get in their pants. It will only end badly.

Romano carried out his promise to seduce Alfred (see Unwanted Chapter 35: Hypocrite), but it didn't really end the way he had planned. Both Romano and Jacques are trying to get some American arse, but they're going about it in terrible ways: they'll have to buck up their ideas if they want to succeed!

The first appearance of Cuba! Things are nice and simple for Matty and Maddie in this chapter, but they won't stay that way - taking all bets for who's going to be the one to complicate things!

Interesting side note - when I first uploaded this chapter, random parts were in bold and other random parts were missing. Needless to say, I had to reupload it.

How are you enjoying the story so far? Want to see more characters from Unwanted? Want less bitching and moaning at the front of chapter? Drop me a review and let me know what you think!