Mathew was a quite person, he spent a lot of his days reading or drawing. Despite having a brother and two fathers he often felt very alone. He did try to make friends but that was never easy for Mathew. He wasn't easily noticed and when he was, he messed up his chances at companionship by stuttering and being shy beyond belief. Most times he does get noticed was because he looked exactly like his outgoing, ladies' man of a twin brother from the behind, the mistake is usually met with a brief silence, someone apologizing for bothering him and quickly hurrying away. He had pretty much gotten used to that.

He was content with life, it wasn't that he was unhappy or anything, but one can only go so far trying to supplement family for friends. Mathew really needed someone else to talk to besides his twin brother, Alfred. They were very close, Alfred tells everything to Mattie (as Alfred calls him, a name to tease him about his girlishness). Every party scene, every secret, and Alfred favorite sharing topic, every bodily function!

As comfortable Alfred is with him, Mathew knew that if he ever tried to express how he felt, the news would instantly find they're parent's ears. You see, Alfred is very over protective of Mathew and becomes violent or panicky whenever he finds that something has upset his little Mattie. So Mathew often keep himself bottled up, he hated being fussed over and his father was the best fusser out there. His morning usually starts with his father, Francis, fussing over his school attire, or whether he'd eaten enough or not. Mathew tried his best to ease his father's worries but Francis would go on forever if Arthur didn't step in. His other father. Honestly, Alfred and Arthur were closer than Mathew and Arthur. It wasn't that Arthur didn't care about Mattie but he seemed to have the same problems as everyone else when it came to noticing Mathew. He was often over looked by Arthur's eyes. Mathew didn't mind not being close with 'Dad' as long as he kept 'Papa' from fussing over him all morning.

So after he was finally released from his Papa's arms he would head to school with Alfred walking by his side. He would listen patiently as Alfred talked about all what him and his friends are going to do after school, the pranks he's going to pull, what new arcade just opened up and so on. Sometimes Alfred would ask Mathew whether he thought "this new girl" liked him or not and Mathew would usually reply sarcastically or make jokes about Alfred's face. Alfred would always laugh and throw an insult back. Alfred was the only person he could talk so relaxed with. Once at school, he didn't see Alfred very much, he was always off with his friends doing some sort of mischief. So he would silently walk through the halls consumed in his own thoughts. Today was going better than most, he had already been here half the day and no one has mistaken him of his twin or accidentally shoved him to the ground. Mathew sat in class wondering about what his life would be like if he was like Alfred. Would he be invited to parties every weekend? Would he ask out every girl that caught his eye? Would he draw "male parts" on the white broads or hide the teacher's rulers? Would he even like doing that? Probably not, though it would be nice to have friends. But Mathew didn't think having friends like Alfred's would make him feel less lonely. He'd feel more like a douche in a crowd like that.

He broke out of his thoughts when he heard the bell ring letting him know class was over. He usually waited until everyone left before he tried to leave (to avoid being shoved around) but today he was feeling more confident in his ability to be noticed. Mathew was small and thin, he could easily be knocked over, so while in the busy hall someone had knocked over him and he caught himself on his hands. He should've waited, no one noticed him dusting himself off and grumbling. He adjusted his bag and started off to his next class when a voice sounded behind him.

Mathew sighed and said "S-sorry, not Alfred." He turned to see a pale boy, his eyes were red and sharp yet something seemed to be troubling him. He wore black skinny jeans and a white T-shirt written all over with a black marker saying things like 'I'M AWESOME' or 'if you were looking for awesome well…you've just found it', there was also a small illustration of a baby bird of some kind on the shoulder.

"What? No, I was just wondering if you were ok" the boy said this while his eyes searched Mathew's face. His voice ringed in Mattie's ears, it had been so long since somebody wanted to talk to him, even if this guy only wanted to ask if he was ok it was nice that it wasn't an accidental conversation. Teachers hardly ever say anything to him.

"Um, thank you." His voice was quiet and meek when he spoke, Mathew gave him a shy smile. He didn't really know what to do next, his hands laid awkwardly against his thighs. "Well you're welcome, but are you ok?" the boy shoved his hands into his pocket and rocked back on his heels while he waited for an answer, the almost worried look was gone and replaced with a look of… mock? A smirk replace the tight line and his eyes gleamed with something that Mathew couldn't quite place.

"Oh! Y-yes, I'm perfectly f-fine, thanks!" Mathew stood there stiffly and plastered a smile on his face. The white haired boy stood there looking at him for a minute (which seemed like a year for poor flustered Mathew), looking over Mathew, from his shoes to the top of his head with a confused expression. Then the laughed. He laughed, doubled over in laughter because of… what exactly? Mathew didn't know what was so funny, was there something stuck to his shirt? Is this a prank or something?

"What? What's so f-funny?" Mathew said, it came out like more of a whisper, he was positive that whatever the albino was laughing at it had to be something about him. He could feel his cheeks heating up with embarrassment and anger "W-what is it?!" Mathew said again but this time a little louder and even threw his arms out in front of himself.

The boy could hardly talk but he eventually got a hold of himself again and wiped a tear from his eye, chuckling he said "I'm sorry, kid. I didn't mean to laugh, ok maybe I did, but anyways… it's just heh heh you stand there so stiffly! I'm not gonna bite!" After saying this he began laughing again. His laugh was odd, kind of like "Kesesesese" over and over again. Mathew slumped a little bit, that was it? He was just standing stiffly? That what was so damn funny? And now this guy is laughing about it all over again. The longer he laughed the more Mathew wanted to join in, his laugh was contagious! First smiled, then he giggled along with him and then he couldn't take it any longer and ended up laughing too.

Mathew laughed way too long and way to hard, he ended up "out laughing" the other boy.

"Ok, now what's so funny?" he asked with his hands on his hips, his ruby eyes were narrowed as he waited for an answer.

Mathew smiled "I'm sorry, it's just I-I couldn't help laughing along with you. I suppose I was s-standing there rather stiffly, you had a right to laugh."

"So you think my laugh is funny then?"

"No! T-that's not what I meant at a-all, I didn't s-say that!" Mathew frantically waved his hand in front of himself, as if to dispel the confusion.

The boy stared at him a while longer with his narrowed eyes, looking over Mathew for a hint that he was lying or making fun. Finally the boy chuckled and nodded his head "Good, because my laugh is too awesome to be funny!"

Relived Mattie nodded to agree, he didn't trust himself not to say something to upset the other boy again. Then suddenly the albino turned and started walking away "Well, glad you're ok, see you around."

Mathew watch him walk away in slow motion. There goes his first real conversation in weeks. Mathew watched as he walked father and farther away. Sighing Mathew turned to go but the boy called to him "Hey! I said 'See you around' so you say 'later' or something. It's rude to leave people hanging!"

"I-I'm sorry! Again… Um L-later" Mathew called out while waving his hand a bit. He laughed again as he walked away, before he rounded the corner at the end of the hall he called back "Bye, Mathew." And then the snowy haired boy was gone.

Mathew smiled to himself as he walked back to his class. That was a nice chat, even though it had no point or any real subject. Plus, the boy said "See you around!" and "Bye, Mathew."

It was nice because hardly anyone knew his name- Mathew stopped walking.

No one knew his name, how did this guy know his name? Had he met him before? No, he would've remembered those eyes. His hair was definitely out of the ordinary too! Who was that guy?

Mathew showed up late to his next class but no one noticed the blond walk in and make his way to his seat.

"You should've seen their faces! HA! The girls just love it when the boys take their shirts off- hey, are you even listening? Mattie?" Alfred stopped walking and watched and Mathew kept walking, apparently oblivious that he had stopped walking along with him. Alfred puffed out his cheeks, placed his hand on his hips and started tapping his foot, this was his 'I knew you weren't listening' stance. He has to puts this on every once and while, especially when Mattie has a bad day. The other blond just tunes him out then, completely living in his own thoughts.

"MATTIE!"

Mathew jumped and quickly turned to see that Alfred had fallen behind.

"Alfred! I'm sorry, I didn't noticed you had stopped walking, did you trip or something?" Mathew asked as he hurried back to Alfred's side. Alfred looked at him with an expression a child would wear if they didn't get the toy they wanted or daddy didn't share his piece of cake. Once Mathew was standing with him again his expression softened "Alright, out with it. What's bothering you? You haven't tuned me out like that in a while…"

Mathew sputtered and clutched onto the strap of his backpack "No, I'm f-fine! It's just I got push onto the ground today and there was this guy who asked-"

"Who pushed you to the ground?!" Alfred practically screamed as he grabbed onto Mathew's shoulders, he looked right into Mathew's eyes and waited for an answer. He knew Mattie couldn't lie to him if there was direct eye contact, Mattie cracks under pressure. Mathew only rolled his eyes and sighed "Like I know, just some people…" Mathew wish Alfred wouldn't worry so much, if he didn't he might've been able him tell him about the kid in the hall.

"Mattie, if there something wrong just let me know because I can take care of it, ok? I'm a hero remember?" Alfred gave Mathew a soft smile and playfully punched his shoulder.

"You'll be the first to know" Mathew smiled and adjusted his backpack a bit "I tell you everything remember? Now come on, I'm hungry. Let's get home already!"

Alfred chuckled and agreed, as they continued to walk home the twins talked about why women loved shirtless men so much. Alfred had much more insight on the subject than Mathew did. Mathew made sure to answer all of Alfred's questions and laugh at all the bad jokes made, anything to make Alfred forget about how detached he seemed a minute ago. No matter what subject came up Mathew tried to add a comment in and stay attentive but there was a pair of red eyes fresh in the back of his mind. He was talking about how Mathew should've seen someone's face, this made Mathew bit his cheek to help him hold in a comment. He had never really met Alfred's friends and Alfred was always saying that they just had to be introduced and how much Mathew would just love them. Not matter how many times Alfred said these things he still ignored him in school and neglects to invite him out with them. So every time the phrase "You should've seen they're face!" comes out of his mouth (and it often does) he feels as if he should point out that he could've been there if Alfred would just invite him! But Alfred has such a reputation to uphold, he knows just about everyone and has to look good in front of all of them… That's when it hit him, Alfred knew everyone! He could ask Alfred if he knew anyone like the boy he met in the hall!

"You know what I mean?" Alfred asked while giving a small chuckle "Mattie?"

"Um, yes, Ha! So anyways" Mathew hurriedly replayed "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind m-me asking you a question about your friends?" Mathew knew that he looked nervous, he tried to look a bit more casual by lifting his gaze from the sidewalk and shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. He even added a little "casual sniff". Alfred was silent for a minute, he was looking directly at Mathew now.

"You stuttered."

He stopped walking and looked at Alfred with his best "Oh? I hadn't noticed face."

"Don't give me that look, I heard you. You never stutter with me! What's goin' on Mattie?" Alfred grabbed Mathew's face in his hands and squished his cheeks together "Speeeeak, and no lying either!"

Mathew laughed and tried to get his twin to let go of his face but Alfred held fast, rolling his eyes Mathew mumbled out "I can'f speath if you squish ma face like thif." Alfred let go of his face "ok, now tell me what's up, or I'll make you explain everything with your face squished!"

Mathew sighed "Ok, I'll talk, call off the dogs!"

"No, joking Mathew!" Alfred said "I'm being serious… is someone bulling you?"

Mathew laughed "What? No, I was just going to ask if you knew any albinos."

Alfred blinked "Albinos? You mean like pale skin and pinkish eyes?"

Mathew nodded. Alfred frowned before he continued "Yeah, I do! Why do you ask? Did he do something to you?" Alfred stood with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed. Mathew wonder if maybe Alfred didn't get along with everyone, he didn't seem to like talking about this person.

"Well, when I tripped in the hall-"

"You said someone knocked you over"

"-way, there was this guy who was obviously an albino and he asked if I was ok. He noticed me… well anyways, after he checked that I was ok he walked off and said "Bye Mathew" and I was wondering if he-

"He knew your name? Did you tell him?"

"-was one of your friends. That's all." Mathew ignored all of Alfred's interruptions and looked at him expectantly for an answer. Alfred's frown deepened when his questions were ignored but answered Mattie's anyway "Yeah, I know him. His name is Gilbert and his a bit of a self-righteous ass, he's always talking about how awesome he is. It's really stupid actually… But hey, you should stay away from him, that dude is a bit of a bitch, he couldn't take that fact that we didn't want to hang out with him anymore and he pulled a bunch of pranks. Stupid pranks, but they were annoying!" Alfred went to ramble on about how he'd went into the locker rooms on the last day of school and cut up their clothes, and the time he somehow put something in his and his friend's soda to make their teeth turn green. Mathew couldn't help but smirk at each and every story, so this was the master behind Alfred's summer time misery last year. He knew Alfred had a falling out with a friend and was being "tormented" but Mattie always thought it might have been Alfred making up cover stories for his own mistakes. Their parents don't take mistakes lightly! Or at least Arthur had very little tolerance… and it wouldn't have been the first time Alfred couldn't own up to his own mistakes.

Mathew couldn't hold it in anymore and erupted into a fit of giggles. This made his twin give him a mock hurt look "W-why, Mattie! How could laugh at my misfortunes?!" Alfred put his hand against his forehead and pretended to look as if he may faint "My! Nothing couldn't have prepared me for this betrayal!" Alfred fell backwards onto Mathew, causing the smaller male to laugh even harder as he tried to support his twin's weight. Mathew laughed so hard tears formed at the corners of his eyes. Eventually Alfred stood on his own again and suggested that they hurry home before Papa started worrying.

Mathew sat on his bed, clutching a pillow to his chest, thinking about what Alfred had said about Gilbert. Mathew didn't think their friendship would really "blossom" or anything, but Gilbert had said "see you around" which means they may exchange words every once and a while so he'd need to think about whether it'd be a good idea to even let that happen. Alfred didn't even like the idea of him talking to him so it'd probably cause problems for them, seeing as Alfred would probably highly disapprove of their friendship… which means Arthur probably wouldn't like it very much either. But hey, every kid needs that friend that their family doesn't approve of right? At least Papa would always support him.

Mathew sighed out loud and said "He just said that he'd maybe see you around! Why are you thinking about this so much?" Mathew fell back onto his bed and mumbled "Maybe because no ever talks to you and this is sort of, kind of, maybe a little bit exciting…?"

Mathew laid there of a long time, trying to think of anything but those ruby eyes. He tried to draw but his drawings resembled a certain someone he was trying not to think about, he wasn't obsessive like that! Sighing, Mathew gave up on that and tried reading. Which didn't last very long, he just reread the same sentence over and over again. Giving up on doing anything he tucked himself into bed and wished to fall asleep quickly.

Gilbert sat on his bed clutching a pillow to his chest, his tangled up blankets were shoved at the end of his bed, almost spilling over the edge and onto the floor. Which would be unfortunate if they did end up on the floor considering his floor was covered in chips, they had fallen off the bed and had been scattered by Gilbert's earlier pacing.

"You know what?" Gilbert released his pillow and turned to a small gold colored bird cage set on his desk (the motion caused the pillow to fall in to ground) "I don't think he'll be too much of a problem, Mathew doesn't seem like his brother in anyway… well besides looks. They're very similar in looks. But I think Mathew's look is better!" He stood and crossed his room toward the bird cage, inside sat a small yellow bird grooming itself, and it looked somewhat like a baby chick. "Gilbird are you listening?"

The small bird jumped at the closeness of his master's voice and peeped a response. "Well good!" Gilbert smiled as he lifted the latch to the cage, letting the bird out, who immediately flew onto Gilbert's head.

"No, look here! On the shoulder!" Gilbert said while pointing to the crude illustration of Gilbird on the shoulder of his shirt "I made this for you to let you know where to sit, like a pirate's parrot!" The bird made no reply and nested deeper into Gilbert's soft white hair. Gilbert sighed "We'd look extra awesome if you'd just cooperate…"

Gilbert sat down in the chair in front of his desk and laid his arms on the table top, his head resting on his arms. Gilbird stayed stubbornly nested in his hair.

"He looked more surprised over the fact that I was talking to him rather than my awesome appearance, not that I care what he thinks, sometimes I'm just to awesome for some people to handle!" Gilbert chuckled into his arms "He was so quite Gilbird, like a little lamb." Gilbird made another peep which Gilbert took as incentive to continue "Well, he just kinda stood there, like, at attention. Like dad used to make us practice?" Gilbert tried to look up at the small yellow puff nested in his hair, but his efforts were futile and he laid his head back in his arms. "You know what I'm talking about… so anyways, he stood there all stiff, like I was some totally unawesome person trying to mug him, and he stuttered a lot. And he looked like he might've shrunken into this over sized sweater he was wearing, he looked like a little turtle in it… do you think he sounds more like a lamb or a turtle? Gilbird?" there was no response. Gilbert rose from his sitting position and walked to his closet's mirror.

The little bird laid nestled in Gilbert's white hair was fast asleep. Just as Gilbert was about to turn around and put Gilbird, there was a soft knock on the door. "Come in!" Gilbert called and silently hoped it wasn't his neat freak father, he'd have a heart attack if he saw Gilbert's room in this condition. But when the door slowly swung open, it was neither of his parents, it was his little 7 year old brother.

"Ludwig? What are you doing up still?" stealing a quick glance at his alarm clock Gilbert confirmed that it was an hour past Ludwig's bedtime. Ludwig silently entered Gilbert's room and closed the door behind him, the little boy wore green button down pajama shirt with matching pants. The shirt had a breast pocket, in this breast pocket Gilbert could see a small twig poking out the top (Why he carries that around, Gilbert could never figure out) and something else neatly tucked inside. The little boy didn't say anything until he had made his way over to Gilbert's chair and sat with his legs tucked underneath himself "its 30 minutes passed your bedtime too, were both breaking the rules."

Gilbert smiled, he knew where his brother was going with this "I won't tell, if you won't tell?"

Ludwig gave a brisk nod.

Gilbert laughed, he knew Luddy probably laid in bed, restless, waiting until it was the correct time. The boys had a strict bedtime schedule and if it was ever broken there was sure to be trouble, So he waited until he had a threatening enough argument so Gilbert wouldn't tell on him.

"You waited, didn't you? That way you could make sure that if I told you'd bring me down with you!" Gilbert asked as he sat on his bed, looking over at Ludwig with a look of slight admiration. Ludwig smiled "Insurance."

Gilbert couldn't hold but his bark of laughter, he stood and ruffled his little brother perfectly combed hair, which said little brother immediately smoothed back into place. "Alright, kid. What-cha want?" Gilbert asked.

Ludwig looked down at the ground and picked at his fingernail, a nervous habit, this made Gilbert raise a brow but he said nothing. "Come on, what's up Lud?"

"Don't call me 'Lud' it makes me feel stupid! And if you really must know, I couldn't sleep and was tired of being alone." Ludwig clasped his hands together and smiled at his brother. This made Gilbert chuckle "Oh yeah right. You never get tired of being alone. What's on your mind?"

The boy looked away from his older brother and continued to fidget with his hands "You're 17, right?"

Gilbert nodded, but then realized his little brother couldn't see him and made a noise of confirmation.

"So, you know what cool is, right?" Ludwig turned his head towards Gilbert and leaned forward on his knees. Gilbert smirked "Are you kidding? I don't know a thing about 'Cool'." Ludwig visibly deflated as Gilbert walked towards him and crouched next to the chair, putting an arm around his younger brother "I don't know a thing about cool, but I'll tell you what, I'm the king of Awesome!"

Ludwig perked up a bit, he gave his brother a smile and rolled his eyes "Yes of course, now could I a-ask you a question?"

Gilbert looked a bit concerned but he nodded his head without any questions.

Ludwig's features were set with determination "Will you please look at my picture and tell me if it's cool?" Gilbert's face of concern slowly melted into one of confusion. Seeing his face Ludwig continued "You see, I have this friend named Feliciano." His faced softened "He's a little younger than me, he has light brown hair and it's really soft and he likes to talk about pasta a lot" Ludwig stared nervously playing with the hem of his shirt as he continued "A-anyways, He's really good at drawing! And he's shown me how to draw good and I've been practicing and I think I want to show him but I need you to tell me if it's cool" He quickly looked up from his hands and looked Gilbert in the eyes "I-I mean Awesome, I need you to tell me if it's awesome or not…"

Gilbert looked to his little brother's breast pocket and then back to his face. The confusing on his face was replaced with amusement, he smiled "Sure, lemme see it!" Ludwig smiled widely and scrambled to pull the picture from his pocket. He quickly handed it to Gilbert and watched his face as he carefully unfolded the perfect white square.

Once Gilbert had it unfolded he took in the colored scene: There was two little boys sitting on a hill, one had yellow slicked back hair and the other had red-ish brown hair with a curl sticking out the front of his head. They were sitting next to each other twisting flowers together, the browned haired one already had a flower crown draped over his head.

Everything was sloppily drawn but all Gilbert could do was stare at it, a smile slowly spread across his face.

"Oh my god…" Gilbert breathed and put a hand to his smiling mouth, Ludwig looked at him with wide eyes full of question. "It's so cute…"

Ludwig's face lit up with color, he snatched the picture back and began carefully folded it back up "Is not! I didn't ask if it was cute, I asked if it was cool!" he then tucked it back into his pocket and hopped of the chair and strutted to the door.

"Hey!" Gilbert said as his little brother walked to his door "I never said it wasn't awesome, it's totally awesome!" he snickered "But it is sorta girly…"

"Is not!" Ludwig pursed his lips as he let himself out of Gilbert's room with a huff.

Again Gilbert was alone, smiling to himself. Gilbird stirred and surprised his owner "Oh! Sorry little guy, I forgot you were there!" He stood from his crouching position and opened the cage on the desk, Gilbird made little tweeting noises as he placed him back in his cage. After watching his little friend settle into his bed, Gilbert, switched off his light, removed his shirt and flopped onto his pillow-less, cover-less bed. He laid on his stomach smiling to himself. "Man, the little guy is getting so big… that picture was hella cute though… I wonder if his little friend will like it, I guess that's a good way to make friends, give em' pictures of you guys doing awesome stuff together…" Gilbert began drifting off into sleep "I wonder if Mathew would like a picture…?"

So, this my first fanfiction and I tried hard to make sure there wasn't to many spelling mistakes or grammar mishaps but I'm sure I missed some. I plan on making this story sorta long and I'll trying to update frequently but I can't say when the next chapter will be up. Thank you for reading!

Also, in case anyone was wondering, anything written in italics means its someone thoughts.

I don't own Hetalia.