...

~(WMD)~

(In Search of Maple) - (How to Cure a Cold) - (Sweetgum)

Just in case you wanted to start from the beginning.

This is my Third and FINAL Story to this Trilogy of Madness~

And it will be by far the most crazy since I have so much more to work with...

So expect warnings for a ton of ItaFUN, Double Teaming RagaMuffins, Magic!ArthurXD, BTT's, Random Acts of Bordom and so much more. Expect it to be long because I don't know what I'm doing most of the time...

On another note, I plan on toning down all of the accents, because there are just too many and it will just frustrate me. I'll still have a tiny accent for the Italy twins, and of course Germany, though his will be toned down greatly so it's more readable. France's will probably be about the same because his accent comes pretty easily for me. As for everyone else, don't expect alot accent-wise. I will still use the verbal ticks like "Da" and "Aru" since those are more character related.

~(TS)~ = Time Skip

-(SC)- = Scene Change

'Thoughts' "Speech"

Warnings for - Stressed out Canadians, Unexpected Visitors, and Maple's Debut!

xXx xXx xXx

Sweetgum

How The Fun Was Doubled!

...Il m'aime un peu... beaucoup... pas du tout...

A cool breeze blew through the honey blonde hair of a boy who appeared to be in his very early teens. He was sitting on an old fallen tree in the middle of a grassy meadow. The sun was shining brightly as the boy stared down at the white flower in his hand. Nearly all of the petals had been pulled off.

"...beaucoup..." Came a soft voice as a delicate white flower petal fell silently like the downy feather of a bird.

"Pas du tout..." The boy mumbled as he slowly pulled another petal off and let it flutter to the ground by his feet. "Il m'aime un peu..." A small frown appeared as he pulled another petal. "...beaucoup..." He said quietly and pulled the second to last one away then stared at the remaining white petal depressively as he unconsciously chewed on his bottom lip.

"Don't be sad, Mattie. Look, I've found another one for you."

The boy looked up in surprise and was greeted by the bright smile of someone who was nearly identical to himself. Bold blue eyes clashed with the autumn foliage that surrounded them and mirrored the endless azure sky above. The other boy grinned as he held out a pretty white flower to his twin. "What were you saying just now?" He asked curiously with a small tilt of his head.

-(SC)-

Matthew slowly opened his violet eyes and stared over at the left side of his bed sleepily, a light blush on his cheeks. He sighed softly to himself, then looked at the clock on the nightstand. It read 7:30am. The Canadian tried to ignore the nagging feeling that he should get out of bed and instead brought his knees up and curled around the soft material he had been hugging to himself as he ducked his head under the covers.

Kumajiro lifted his head and peered over at the lump of covers from where he was at the end of the bed. The small polar bear yawned quietly then sat up. A moment later, as expected, a single thought popped into his head and he immediately verbalized it.

"I'm hungry." The bear informed. He waited a few seconds for any sign that he had been heard. Nothing. Kumajiro frowned, then padded over to the mound of covers and plopped down next to it. "I'm hungry." He tried again and stared down at the brown blanket expectantly.

Silence.

A pout came over the small bear's face. He hated being ignored by his favorite person. Especially when he wanted his breakfast. And he wanted his breakfast now!

Kumajiro huffed in annoyance and reached out his paw then poked the lump of covers. A low muffled grumble was his only response as the teen rolled over onto his other side but remained buried. The polar bear growled softly in frustration at his lazy owner.

"I'm hungry!" Kumajiro whined as he pressed both paws to the lump and shook it impatiently. He received no reaction at all. The Canadian was obviously using his 'Stay still, maybe they'll forget I'm here.' tactic. Unlike most people, that trick never worked on Kumajiro.

Matthew was trying his hardest to ignore the pestering, he wanted to go back to that dream he had been having, but his small polar bear companion was simply relentless when he wanted his breakfast. 'Be the bed, he'll forget I'm here if I just be the bed. Beee the bed…' He chanted in his mind as he stayed perfectly still in hopes that his tactic would work on his bear for once.

A cold chill washed over his body as the covers were pulled away from him harshly. Matthew shivered and curled tightly around the material he was hugging in a desperate attempt to keep some of the warmth he still had.

"Get up." Kumajiro ordered as he pushed his favorite person's back. A moment later, the small polar bear sat back and sighed. He wasn't getting any response. He sat there in silence for a minute until a thought popped into his furry head. "He'll be here in a few hours." Kumajiro reminded. To his delight, this time he actually got a reaction as Matthew mumbled something sleepily then uncurled from his position.

The Canadian finally sat up on the bed then stared down at Kumajiro, half awake. The small bear said nothing as his eyes traveled to the brown material in the teen's arms. Matthew followed his gaze then blushed brightly as he released his hold on the article of clothing. "I-it's not what you think!" The teen exclaimed as his brother's jacket fell to his lap. Kumajiro gave him a blank stare but stayed silent.

Hearing his owner's voice, a fluffy white Ragamuffin with perfect timing hopped onto the bed and made his way over to them. Kumajiro frowned as Maple affectionately rubbed up to him then softly headbutted the furry bear. Annoyed, the grumpy polar bear huffed and tried to push the cat away.

Matthew laughed quietly at the usual interaction of the two animals. "Good morning, Maple." He greeted as he reached over and pet the fluffy Ragamuffin's head. Maple mewed happily then sat down next to Kumajiro and began purring. The bear glared as the cat leaned against him and invaded his personal space. Matthew gave him a sympathetic smile. "How about some breakfast, eh?"

~(TS)~

"This is the last of the bacon, we're also running low on some other things." Matthew informed as he casually pushed around some sizzling bacon in a pan. "If I don't find time to go grocery shopping today, we might have to eat out tonight."

The Canadian drew his gaze away from the pan and stared out of the kitchen window. "Alfie would probably be ok with that…" Matthew said softly with a smile as he observed the brilliant red leaves of the maple tree in his backyard.

Kumajiro didn't bother responding to anything the teen had just said as he waited impatiently on the kitchen counter. He probably wouldn't have been heard anyway, seeing as his owner was once again daydreaming. The little bear frowned as he watched his favorite person stare out of the window, lost in thought.

This had been happening more than usual lately and it was beginning to cause some problems. For instance, just three days ago, he had witnessed his owner walk straight into a closed door. Though, that really hadn't been the first time, but usually accidents like that happened when he wasn't wearing his glasses.

On a different occasion, the Canadian was being lectured by his boss on how to be more assertive during the upcoming World Conference but somewhere in the middle, his attention drifted away. His boss had come to the conclusion that he was simply overworked and needed a break, so he had given him the rest of the day off. That had been really embarrassing for his owner and he had spent the rest of the day baking. Which was probably one of the reasons why they needed to go shopping in the first place.

A soft nudge to his leg brought Matthew's attention back from his daydreams and he looked down. Curious violet eyes stared up at him from the floor by his feet. He gave his cat a soft smile then bent down to pet him. "I bet you want some too, eh?" He asked, to which his only response was a quiet mew as Maple put a paw to his owner's leg so he could lean into the physical affection.

Matthew chuckled lightly. "You're going to get as heavy as Hero if you keep eating human food like this." He teased as he ruffled Maple's light brown mane. The Ragamuffin's ears perked at the familiar name and he purred softly as he rubbed himself against Matthew's leg. "I'm sure Alfie will bring him, it would be pretty strange if he didn't."

A mysterious burnt aroma wafted into the air while the Canadian personification was distracted. "Ah, oh no!" Matthew gasped and stood back up quickly to try and save the bacon. He groaned to himself pathetically; once again, he had completely lost track of what he was doing...

~(TS)~

Kumajiro glowered down at the nearly blackened bacon on his plate, then looked back up at his owner with a slight growl. "It's really not that bad." Matthew replied as he tried to defend his carelessness with a forced smile. The small bear was not convinced as he continued to give his favorite person a look of dissatisfaction.

Matthew sighed dejectedly and looked away with a pout. "At least the pancakes turned out ok." He reminded. And they had, so breakfast wasn't a complete loss but Kumajiro was becoming unimpressed with the teen's lack of concentration. And what's worse? Now it was affecting his mealtime and that was unacceptable! Maple, on the other hand, seemed completely satisfied with the burnt bacon. The small polar bear ended up eating his bacon as well, however it was purely out of spite for the fluffy Ragamuffin who seemed a little too interested in his plate.

~(TS)~

After breakfast, Kumajiro watched bordly as his favorite person rushed past the small dining table carrying a stack of papers, then disappeared into another room. A loose paper fluttered to the hardwood floor, unnoticed in the Canadian's haste.

The small polar bear sighed and pushed his empty breakfast plate away, then hopped down from the chair. He carefully picked up the piece of paper, which had a pie chart of Ontario's income on it, and followed after the teen.

Upon reaching the open door to the study, Kumajiro barely had time to move out of the way as the Canadian quickly emerged from the room carrying even more paperwork in his arms. The small bear glared as he watched him turn a corner and make his way up the stairs.

His favorite person always got this way when he knew he was going to have visitors, but for some reason he was even more flustered than usual. It may have been because he had to host the World Conference the very next day or, …perhaps it was something else entirely. Either way, Kumajiro was getting tired of watching his owner rush around, frantically trying to clean an already clean house.

The small bear found an unopened letter at the bottom of the stairs. He frowned when he picked it up. It was yet another "Au revoir" message from Quebec. There was a special folder for those… Kumajiro sighed again and made his way up the stairs after his owner.

-(SC)-

"Would you roll up the window! It's too windy in here." A brunette man grouched, keeping his green eyes on the road as he weaved dangerously past the cars ahead of him.

"Ah, but it is such a nice day!" His twin brother replied blissfully as he watched the scenery speed by. He seemed completely unaffected by how fast they were going.

"Areh you sure you got the directions right?" The one driving asked as he failed to read yet another street sign as it whipped by.

"Yea~ big brother France told me right where it is!" His twin replied making the other groan in annoyance.

"That's who you got the directions from?!" The driver exclaimed as he facepalmed, now not even watching the road. "No wonder we're lost! Why didn't you ask the Burger Bastard instead? It is his brother after all, he would know how to get there!"

The passenger frowned and leaned back into his seat. "I tried to call him first, but all of my calls wereh redirected to a pizzeria in New York. When I tried to make an order, the man said they don't deliver across the border and he hung up on me…"

The driver took his hand away and rolled his green eyes at that last comment as he grumbled something under his breath. He then reached into a brown bag that sat between them and pulled out a nice ripe tomato.

The passenger was quiet as he took another look at a small map that had been drawn for him. His hazel eyes widened in realization and he quickly flipped the map over. "I think we should turn up here." He said as he pointed to an upcoming turnoff.

"Areh you sure this time?" The driver asked skeptically as he chewed on his tomato.

"Positivo!" His twin confirmed as he beamed.

"You better be right…" The driver grouched as he turned the steering wheel forcefully, making a hard right. The car behind them beeped and swerved in alarm.

They drove through a pleasant looking neighborhood trying to locate the correct house, though reading the house numbers proved difficult since they were still speeding.

"Now he said we should be looking for a two story house with an old wooden fence and a large maple tree in the front yard." The passenger informed as he stared down at the map with the directions on it.

"Is that it?" His brother asked.

The passenger lifted his head and looked as well. "Where?" He asked, not seeing the same thing.

"There." The driver said as he pointed to a large two story house that they were quickly approaching to their left. The other frowned and stared at the house for a moment.

"Is it?" The driver asked impatiently.

A smile formed on his twin's face. "Yea, that's it!" He agreed right as they were about to zoom past it.

Now a normal person would probably have driven by, found a nice safe place to turn around, and come back to their destination at a more reasonable speed. However…

-(SC)-

Maple mewed in greeting when Matthew entered the second makeshift study he had made out of the second bedroom. There was more paperwork right now than he knew how to deal with. He had taken a lot of his work home with him because he was behind in some of his official matters and to top it off, he had just barely finished the preparations for the next World Conference on time.

Matthew was worn out with all of the stress in trying to get things set up before everyone got there, not to mention he hadn't been sleeping very well lately. He felt completely exhausted and the meetings hadn't even begun yet. Though, at least he was over his cold now. That was something.

"Hello, Maple. I see you've found a nice warm place in the sun." The Canadian smiled as he spotted his fluffy cat, comfortably sitting on the windowsill over by the bed. Maple purred in response then turned and continued gazing out the window. Matthew chuckled lightly then set the stack of papers down on one of the nightstands.

Kumajiro padded into the room and sat down. "Here." He said after taking the papers from his mouth and holding them out to his favorite person.

"Did I drop those?" Matthew asked, lifting his eyebrows slightly. He then gave his bear an appreciative smile and accepted the papers. "Thank you, Mr. Kumakichi." He sighed depressively when he looked at them, then set them on top of the pile of paperwork.

"Well, I think I'm done now." Matthew said after straightening the pile of papers. He let out a tired yawn as he lifted his arm and slid his loose sleeve back to check his wristwatch. A small smile graced his lips as he stared down at the time. "Alfie should be here pretty soon."

Maple let out a low mew, then leapt from the windowsill and retreated from the room in a panic.

Matthew frowned and gave Kumajiro a doubtful look. "What was that ab-" His sentence was interrupted by a loud crash just outside. They both jumped, clearly startled. The Canadian quickly scooped his polar bear companion into his arms, then walked over to the window to peer outside and see what had happened.

A dark blue car that looked as if it had been through a war zone was now "parked" in his front yard. His fence was in shambles and his mailbox was nowhere to be seen.

"Maple…" Matthew whined softly as he bit down on his bottom lip.

-(SC)-

"That was great~" The person in the passenger seat said after he pulled the map away from his face and looked around, grinning.

"This is all your fault!" The driver snapped as he struggled to get his door open. Once he did, he pushed away the deflated airbag and got out of the car to look at the damage. "Great. I blew my tires again. Why didn't you tell me in timeh?!" He raged as he watched his brother get out of the car as well, a smile still on his face.

"It's not that bad, Lovi, at least you didn't total it like last timeh."

"I-Italy? …Romano?" A quiet voice asked from a little ways away. Both Italians turned to see a confused and slightly unimpressed Canadian staring at them from his doorway.

Feliciano's face brightened and he waved energetically. "Ciao, Alfred! You cameh too?"

Lovino looked over to the Canadian and scowled. "What are you doing here, you Burger Bastard?!"

They both watched as the teen's face flushed slightly and he frowned.

"I'm Canada!" He whisper-shouted in annoyance. "This is my house after all!"

The Italians tilted their heads, confused.

Another smile came over Feliciano's face and he nodded in understanding. "Oh, ciao, Matteo."

Lovino frowned when he spotted an elderly woman peeking through her window at them. "Let's just go inside, we'reh causing a scene." He said as he walked around his car and up Matthew's sidewalk to his house. His brother followed after waving politely at the woman.

~(TS)~

"So… what brings you here, eh?" Matthew asked, after setting down a cup of coffee on the wooden dining table in front of both of his new guests.

"Grazie." They said in unison as they accepted the kind offering.

"We came to stay with you for awhile, isn't that great~?" Felciano answered as he picked up his coffee and blew on it to cool it off.

"What… do you mean?" Matthew asked, a feeling of discontent slowly rising inside of him.

"The Potato Bastard kicked my idiot brother out, so he could focus on the new schedule without being disturbed." Lovino said with a frown. He then shrugged. "I couldn't just leave Feli by himself while he tried to find a new place to stay."

Feliciano turned and beamed at his brother. "Sei il migliore, Lovi!"

A blush crept onto Lovino's face and he crossed his arms sulkily. "Shut up! This really is all your fault. You're the idiot who changed the schedule and messed everything up."

Feliciano tilted his head and smiled. "Veee~ But we had a lot of fun, right? So it was worth it!"

Matthew silently watched the two Italian brothers argue back and forth. They were really close. It reminded him of the bond that he shared with his own brother, though the Italian twins indeed had a much different relationship.

"Why did you pick my place to stay?" Matthew finally asked once his mind got back on track. "Couldn't you have stayed with Japan or perhaps Spain?"

Feliciano turned back to their Canadian host. "Kiku hasn't arrived yet and-"

"And there's no way we'reh staying with Antonio, not when he keeps inviting the Wine Bastard and stupid Gil over!" Lovino finished grumpily.

"O-oh…" Matthew frowned. "But still, …why my place?"

"Big brother France said this would be the perfect placeh to stay~" Feliciano smiled happily. "He even gave us directions!" He said as he held out a folded hand drawn map with the directions to the Canadian's house written on it in fancy handwriting.

Matthew took the map and glowered down at it. 'Damn it, Papa…' He growled inside his head as a mental image of Francis 'honhonhoning' at his expense came to mind. "H-how long are you planning on staying?" The teen asked, already dreading the answer.

"Probably a few weeks, depending on how fast they can get the schedule fixed." Lovino answered as he unfolded his arms and took his coffee into his hands. Matthew mentally cried at this new information. This was going to be even more stressful than he had imagined.

"Hey, Matteo, do you haveh any snacks?" Feliciano asked cheerfully after setting his coffee cup back onto the wooden table.

"Don't be so rudeh." Lovino scolded as he too set his cup down.

"I don't have much right now, but I do have some cheese; I think there's some crackers around here also…" Matthew replied as he turned and opened the refrigerator door.

"Cheese? That's all you ha-" Lovino's complaint was cut off when a hand was pressed to his mouth to quiet him. The southern Italian gave his brother an annoyed glare but relented only because of the look he was receiving. He really hated that look, it both irritated him and made him feel a tiny bit guilty for some strange reason, which in turn, irritated him!

A few minutes later, Feliciano and Lovino were presented with a simple plate of cheese and crackers.

"Grazie, Matteo!" Feliciano said appreciatively.

"I'm sorry, that's pretty much all I have right now. I really need to go grocery shopping." Matthew apologized.

"This is just fineh. Don't worry." Feliciano reassured. Lovino was ignoring them while grumbling about something privately. He then reached over and picked up a piece of cheese. Before he had a chance to bring the slice of cheese to his mouth however, it was swiped from his grasped.

"Hey!" Lovino cried out in surprise.

Matthew, who had been searching through his kitchen cabinets, turned around to see what had happened. He flushed in embarrassment when he spotted his fluffy Ragamuffin sitting boldly on the dinning table enjoying a slice of cheese. "M-Maple!" The Canadian exclaimed as he made his way over to the table. "What's gotten into you, eh?" He asked in bewilderment as he leaned over the table to collect his cat. This was so out of character for Maple!

"Uh.. Why are you so…-" Matthew paused as realization hit him.

He carefully turned the cat around and held him face level so he could conclude his suspicions. Bright blue eyes stared back at him. "…Hero?" Hero mewed happily in greeting, though it was slightly muffled since he still had a slice of cheese in his mouth.

"Ciao, Alfred!" Feliciano greeted energetically as he practically bounced out of his chair and rushed over. Matthew froze as he felt his stomach involuntarily flutter. He lowered Hero and let his gaze travel to the front door.

Alfred, who had just set his navy blue travel bag down on the floor by the coat rack, looked up in surprise when he was greeted in a very unexpected way. When he did however, his azure eyes instantly locked with his brother's before anything else, causing that familiar warmth to rise in his chest.

Matthew felt himself flush when Alfred gave him a bright smile. Memories from the strikingly similar image of the little boy holding a white flower in his dream that morning floated back to him and the Canadian's expression softened.

'I've always loved that smile…'

xXx xXx xXx

The French~

Il m'aime un peu = He loves me a little

Beaucoup = A lot

Pas du tout = Not at all

It's that old French love guessing game of flower petal picking. Yes it's French, look it up~

I took two of the options out since I felt that "Passionately" and "Madly" weren't really something a child that young would be thinking about.

Can anyone else picture France teaching little Canada this game? It would have been adorable! That is, if he kept it G rated.

The Italian~

Ciao = Hello

Grazie = Thanks

Sei il migliore! = You're the best!

Can anyone else sense the ItaAmore? lol :3

xXx

WMD's interesting notes for in case you didn't get it.

Mattie's "Stay still, maybe they'll forget I'm here." tactic, is totally his "Piano Tactic" but I couldn't call it that! ...because it wouldn't make sense to the story. ._.

Quebec's "Au revoir letter" - au revoir means "Goodbye" in French. (The Province of Quebec has been threatening to separate from Canada for a really long time.)

I don't actually know if the stereotype that Italian's drive crazy is true or not, but they had that one episode. So it's totally cannon!

I know the title says "How The Fun Was Doubled!" which is obviously an MLP reference, but I was thinking, shouldn't I have said "Tripled"?

xXx

I'll try to update as soon as I can, but with school, things are going to be going rather slowly. Bare with me, K? :)

Don't forgetta to leave me a review~

I write faster when I'm inspired.

(Thank you Amy Kitty Katz, I've fixed it to the best of my ability.)