He hated the rain.

Matthew stared out the window, watching quick drops of water come from the sky and continuously pound against the earth. He shuffled his arms a bit so he could push up his glasses while holding the enchanted stuffed bear in his hands comfortably.

He hated it with every fiber of his being.

At this point the Canadian was only half paying attention of what Ludwig was going on about in the meeting they were having. No one wanted his opinion, why even bother paying attention. He continued to zone out towards the window, no one noticing that he was completely looking away. He kept his ears open of course to key words of important matters, not completely rejecting the meeting as a whole.

It was raining when his family broke apart.

Matthew jumped as he was suddenly jabbed in the shoulder, quickly snapping out of his daze and looking up, seeing his obnoxious brother smile at him in the message of wanting agreement with a point he was making. He glanced around for a moment, seeing a few eyes drift from the American over to him in a questioning air to see his opinion.

Was this actually happening? Were they really asking for his opinion? He straightened up, opening his mouth to speak-

"Ha ha ha ha! I knew you'd agree with me, Mattie!"

"You bloody git, only an idiot would agree with you! Hell, it'd take a bigger idiot to even think of such a ridiculous plan!"

"Or it is just that those large brows of yours can't see how awesome this is!"

And just like that, the silent blonde's hopes were instantly dashed, making him slump in his seat and pivot his head towards the window in defeat. He knew everyone was looking back away from him, probably even forgetting that he was a factor in the solution at all. Though he didn't know one set of eyes remained set on him.

It was raining when he became invisible.

"Schweign!" Ludwig yelled out, shooting a glare to the arguing father and son to make them shut up before he stood up straight. "We are not getting anywhere right now. It is close to two, so I propose that we take a half hour lunch break before we return to this."

At the idea, the nations stood from their chairs excitedly, having been looking forward to the break from the high tension for some delicious food. As they all shuffled out the room quickly, Matthew remained seated, staring out the window.

…I could just leave this meeting right now, Matthew thought to himself, holding onto his Kumakichi a bit tighter. I could leave, and no one would notice. He sighed through his nose before he stood up, placing Kumasanom in his seat before heading out for the door with a heavy heart. He kept his eyes toward the ground, silently passing by others who had brought their lunch with them. He vaguely looked up once, wanting to see where he was going.

The door outside. Others probably have had left to get food from the outside restaurants. He could walk out right then, he didn't even need to come back. Matthew reached out, setting his hand on the handle in intent on leaving. But, he pulled back, just simply not having the heart to just leave the premises. He quietly sighed before he pivoted on his heel, deciding to just walk around the building until time was up. He didn't really feel like eating anyway.

As he slipped further away from the nearest living person, Matthew lifted his head to look at the windows he passed by, looking outside to the clouded skies and wet terrain. Even though he hated the rain, that every time he could see and hear it, it would depress him like no other, he couldn't help but just watch it.

He paused, seeing a large garden in the center of where the building curled around itself, being plastered by the rain and being given life-saving nourishment. He stared for only a few moments before he turned, opening the door to head into the garden. Only two steps in and he could feel the water from above quickly fall on him, not taking too long to dampen the top layer of him.

Honestly at this point, he didn't even care.

Matthew stepped through the pathways, looking to the arrangements of flowers that were blooming quite well for being in the spring. He went to the side, sitting down on a bench that was placed not too far away. Of course, he flinched as he felt the cold water gathered on it soak through his pants. He slumped, setting his elbows on his knees as he just stared outwards, his vision of the flowers being blotted by the rain dotting his glasses.

He didn't care that he was getting soaked through his clothing. He didn't care he was out in the cold and rain. He didn't care if he was going to be late to the meeting or not anymore.

Because he knew no one cared about him. So why should he?

Matthew closed his eyes, taking a inhale of frigid air and just trying to relax, concentrating on just the sound of rain and the feeling of cold water running down his skin. He didn't know what he was trying to relax from, to being sad or secretly being angry. Either way, he just had to keep a level head and to stay away from those idiots. Those.. people who keep raising his hopes of being noticed by inviting him to meetings but in the end just shun him.

Why couldn't there be just… one person. One person that could see him… that could remember his name once in a while, to smile for him instead of just to someone in his direction. Was there such a person?

"…Mathieu?"

Matthew gasped, his eyes snapping open and sat up straight at being addressed suddenly. He looked up, seeing Francis stare down at him curiously with a red umbrella over his head to keep him safe from the rain. He blinked once, twice, three times before he pushed up a smile as best as he could, "ah… yes?"

"What are you doing out here? Have you been out here this entire time?" Francis asked, furrowing his brows lightly before he stood back, giving the other some room so he could stand up. "Mon Dieu, you're soaked to the bone." He noted quietly, glancing over him up and down and tilting his umbrella so it was covering over both of them.

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry, is it time to go back in? I lost track of time." Matthew breathily chuckled as he tried to play this off as simply as possible.

The Frenchman frowned lightly, shaking his head lightly before he turned, motioning the other to follow him. "Non, the meeting started again twenty minutes ago. I got worried when you didn't come back so I decided to look for you."

Matthew blinked at this, not having expected someone having noticed he was gone, not to mention actually going to look for him. "A-ah… I see… I'm awfully sorry, I didn't realize I was gone that long. Should we just go back in?"

"Absolutely not! If we leave you like this, you're going to catch pneumonia!" Francis stated outright, looking at him as if offended by his suggestion. He folded up his umbrella before holding the door open to let the Canadian inside and following in right after him. "I always keep an extra set of clothes here, never know when another set is needed~"

The other of course opened his mouth to ask of why he would need them, but decided to stay quiet. When it came to Francis, sometimes it was best to not ask about those sort of things. He shivered lightly as he followed the Frenchman down the hallways, realizing when he was in the dry and warm building how cold he really was.

Soon enough they stopped by an office, Francis unlocking it easily before going inside and closing it once Matthew went inside. He went over and pulled a duffel bag from under the desk, setting it on the table and opened it up for the other to see. Inside it was, sure enough, another set of clothing of her red and white suit and a towel. Along with a few… other items.

"These will help out," Francis pulled out the clothing and towel, handing the towel to him first. Matthew took the rough cloth and rubbed it on his head, not caring about how messy it was going to make it. Of course he jumped as he felt something began to peel away his water-logged jacket and his shirt began to loosen.

"A-ahn;" he muttered nervously before he lifted up the towel to see what was happening, seeing the older nation being the one to start to undress him. "…w-what are you doing?"

"The longer these clothes stay on, the more longer you're going to stay wet." He said, a small smile on his face. Though, it was not a perverted smile he usually held towards others, but one that held fatherly tendencies like back in the day.

Matthew watched him silently, deciding not to fight against the other stripping off. He had a point, he had to do it sooner or later to get the dry clothes on. He set the towel aside, helping him get his clothes down to his underwear. That he refused to take off, wet or not. He picked up the towel, beginning to dry off his cold and clammy body, seeing at the corner of eye Francis laying out the clothes.

"..Mathieu," Francis spoke up, looking over to the young nation. "Is everything all right? You've seemed… down all day." He frowned lightly out of concern as Matthew dried off his curl, it bouncing back to life from being wiped of the extra water weight.

"Everything is fine. There's nothing-"

"You're a horrible liar, cher."

The dark blonde perked as the other interrupted him, nervously smiling as it was obvious that he could be read like a book. He sighed, rubbing his shoulder with the towel before he folded it up, setting it aside. "…No one cares. They don't.. see me, they rarely remember my name. I find little reason to leave the house anymore, or even get up in the morning because despite how many times I tell people who I am, five minutes later I'm still a stranger to them."

He lightly bit his lip, looking down before he pushed up his glasses. It was really strange to be telling this to someone, someone who actually wanted to hear his problems. "I… I don't find a point on doing anything anymore if I am a ghost. Ever since the Revolutionary War, ever since… our family broke away, I was pushed back. When Alfred tried to invade in 1812, Arthur only helped me so he could keep his section of the land. They.. weren't even after me, I wasn't part of the equation. I'm.. never part of the equation. I'm… nothing."

Francis watched as the other practically crumbled right in front of him, watching him as he sat down in the chair as he bared his poor neglected soul out for the world to see. But he was the only one to truly see it. He looked back to his duffel bag, leaning over to pull out a rolled up blanket from the bottom of it, unrolling it swiftly and wrapping it around the broken Canadian.

"Mon cher… mon amore, I had no idea you felt this way. I mean, I have seen you get ignored and mistaken as Alfred quite a bit, but I didn't know it was more than just a simple mistaken identity or bout of forgetfulness." He noted, watching as Matthew shivered lightly and gripped the blanket tightly around him as he sniffed. He sat next to him and reached out, setting a warm hand on the others freezing cheek so to gently turn the his glistening sad blue eyes to meet with his own.

"Throughout it all; I have been there to see you. Even if you are in the background, I still see you there. When someone asks for your name, I tell them who you are. If they are not smart enough to see such elegance and beauty right in front of them, they are blind." Francis's thumb gently rubbed his soft cheek, wiping away a tear that began to trail down over the apple of his cheek. "If you need at least one reason to let yourself be in the world, let it just be for at least me to see your beauty if everyone else won't appreciate it." He grinned at him, scooching closer to him just a bit. "But I suppose it just means, I can have you all to myself."

Matthew's eyes widened at such kind words, no one had ever said something like that to him before. His hand was so warm… he really wondered if he had fallen asleep in the rain and this was just some fever induced hallucination. And then out of the blue, he was able to tell instantly that this was for real. He closed his eyes, feeling Francis's lips on his own. His heart raced and could feel his cheeks burn at such a simple physical contact.

Their lips remain locked for a good few moments before Francis pulled away, lightly chuckling at the look on his face. "…Did you like that, mon cher?" He chuckled even more as Matthew nodded quickly as he smiled. For real this time. "Good, I would be worried if you didn't." he leaned up to kiss his cheek before he pulled the boy close, looking down as the Canadian opened up his blanket to wrap it around both of them.

"…I don't think they need us at the meeting… do they?" Matthew asked quietly, looking up to the Frenchman in almost desperation. He didn't want to leave this yet. He wanted to be someone's center of attention for just a while longer.

"Hmm, non, I do not think so. Let them bicker nonsense." Francis decided, leaning down to kiss the top of the others head before wrapping his arms around him. "This is much more important."

Matthew grinned, squeezing him a bit tighter before he leaned up, his heart shooting up into his throat as the older blonde met him the rest of the way to tenderly kiss once more.

Perhaps… the rain isn't so bad.