Theme #52: Fall

Raking

"Stupid trees, stupid leaves, stupid parents, stupid curfew, stupid Allen…" were some of the things you muttered as you walked outside the door. You held a rake in one hand and your other hung lazily in a jacket pocket.

"Stupid Canadian fall…"

Last night should have been a great night. It was your anniversary with your boyfriend, Allen F. Jones, aka the biggest heartthrob of school. He planned to take you to your favorite diner but—

"Sorry, I was late, babe, but we gotta talk," he established. He had a lot of audacity to be thirty minutes late for your anniversary dinner.

"About what, Al?" you had questioned.

"{_}, I'm breaking up with you."

You blinked your eyes. "Wh-What? Why?"

He sighed, "It's not you, it's me."

You put your hands on your hips and frowned, "How so?"

"Okay, look I was gonna give you all the 'I should let you go to find someone better' or the ever classic, 'It's not you, it's me,' as I attempted, but look: your kinda weird."

"Weird?" you were taken aback. You thought if anything you were to normal.

"Yeah, I mean, you stay up until three in the morning watching Chinese cartoons with subtitles—"

"Japanese," you corrected through your teeth. "And they're called animes."

"—right, Javanese accolades, or whatever. Who does that? And your always chewing on pen caps. I know it helps you think, but it's kinda gross. And every other day, you come up with a new idea for a book or mango—"

"Manga," you corrected again.

"—yeah, those. You can't stick to one idea," he finished. "See you later!"

"What?!" you cried as he got back in his car. "You can't leave me, you—" your protests did not stop the revving engines of the car that drove off four seconds later.

"—you were my ride home," you said sadly, as you heard a clap of thunder. And we're drown within a minute's time.

When you arrived home an hour later, you parents screamed at you.

"{_}, where have you been?" your mother cried.

"In the rain," you sighed.

"Young lady, you are soaking wet and an half an hour past your curfew," your father observed sternly. "What have you been doing?"

"Allen and I—" that was the last thing you said before you were immediately grounded.

"{_}?" the voice brought you back to reality. You whipped your head around. You smiled at the boy glancing at you from over the fence.

"Sup, Matthew," you called back.

He shook his head, insinuating his life has been normal. "How's you life, {_}? Wait, wasn't your anniversary with Allen last night? How did it go?"

"Never mention that name within a three-mile radius of me," you deadpanned.

He hopped over the fence with little grace and walked closer to you. "What happened?"

You puffed up your cheeks before admitting, "He dumped me."

"What? Why?"

You shook your head, "I don't wanna…"

"Do you want to hold Kumajirou?" he offered. You smiled. He was very careful about his little polar bear. You were the only other person, not counting Matthew and Mrs. Williams, who you had actually seen hold him.

You nodded sadly, "Yeah, but he's not—" 'here,' you were going to say until your friend scampered up the fence, still lacking grace and ran in his house. Not even a minute later he was handing you Kumajirou and a (favorite candy).

"Thanks, Mattie," you smiled at him.

"Hi, {_}," Kumajirou greeted happily.

"Hey, buddy." You greeted back.

The polar bear looked at the boy and tilted its head. "Who are you?"

"I'm Matthew," he sighed. You could practically see the anime sweat drop coming from his face. Maybe, you did watch too much…

"{_}!" your father cried from the window. "I thought I told you no boyfriend until you were done raking!"

"It's Matthew!" you assured.

"Hello, sir," he said shyly to the man.

"Kid, she's grounded until she rakes up all those leaves," your father explained.

"Wh-What if I help her?" he offered quietly.

The man thought hard for a long second. "Fine."

Matthew smiled at the bear. "Come on Kilimanjaro, let's get the rakes."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Matthew…"

Of all the houses, of all the neighborhoods, in all the towns, in all of the provinces in Canada, why did your parents buy the one with the most trees?

You had been out here for an hour and this stupid rake had got you practically nowhere. Matthew, who has been raking all his life, had already done 75% of the yard, leaving you in awe. He looked at you, who was frustrated, and suggested, "It's time for a break, eh?" You nodded and collapsed on the ground. He sat beside you.

You pulled out the candy he had given that you hadn't eaten. You snapped it in half and handed it to Matthew. He smiled as he took it.

"How'd you know to bring this?" you asked as you bit into the sweet. "I love these."

"I knew you liked them, and they help me when I'm sad about a girl," he admitted.

Your eyes widened, "A girl?" You wiggled your eyebrow suggestively. "Tell me about her."

Freeze. Before we continue, you must note that you have always thought the Canadian was really cute. He was funny and sweet, sometimes you wondered if you liked him. He never talked about girls. Though you thought he was a pretty eligible bachelor for you, you were excited to hear about this girl who caught his pretty blue eyes.

"We-Well, um, I've liked her for a while now, but uh, she's had a boyfriend until recently. And I actually introduced her to him, but I didn't think they would really get together."

Your brain made a connection. "Like how you introduced me to Allen."

He nodded as his adorable, stray curl bounced up and down. "Yeah. I'm sorry my half-brother's such a jerk, by the way."

"It's okay," you dismissed. "He said I was weird. He said that I watch too much anime, he said he doesn't like how I chew on my pens, and he says it's strange how I come up with ideas for stories every other day."

Matthew blinked and sighed. He seemed oddly sad as he spoke, "I shouldn't have introduced you to Allen…"

Matthew took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. His heart was racing like crazy. In his hand was a single, red rose. Today, he was going to confess to his friend, {_}.

He had liked {_} ever since she moved in beside his own home. He remembered the heart warming smile she gave him as she carried a box with '{_}'s Stuff' written on the side. He had been looking over the fence, to see if he could meet a new friend, and he did. Even after two years he remembers the warmth he felt that cold winter afternoon as your lips tilted up in a large smile.

He had know her for two years and today he was going to tell her that she was amazingly spectacular and that he couldn't stop thinking about her and her beautiful eyes and captivating smile. He smooth his hair back and took one last deep breath.

He walked up to the living room where you sat on the couch with Allen. His arm was wrapped around your shoulders as he flirted with you. You wore a deep blush on your face.

"Hey, bro, I like your little friend. She's really cute," he complimented as he leaned dangerously close to your ear.

You playfully moved away from him and gave Matthew a serious face. "You said you needed to tell me something?"

He dropped the rose behind his back and he gave a fake smile as he curl faltered. "Um, I just wanted you to meet my half-brother, Allen."

You were already very acquainted.

"{_-_-_}?"

You looked at him, "Yeah?"

"You're amazingly spectacular and you're pretty and smart and uh…" he said quietly.

"What?"

He sighed. "N-Never mind."

"Hey, Kumajirou?" you started, "How come you know my name, but you can't remember Matthew's?"

The polar bear thought for a moment. "Mmm… It's because he never shuts up about you!" he said cheerily. Matthew tried to cover the bear's mouth, but he avoided it. "He always talks about how pretty and nice you are and he says he wished he had the guts to tell you. Sometimes, when your out with Allen he would eat chocolate and sigh."

"That-That's enough out of you, Kumajirou," Matthew said nervously as he took the bear back into his lap, this time successfully covering his mouth.

"Matthew? Is the girl you like…me?" you tried hopefully.

"Y-Yeah, but, I know you don't like me like that so, you can just ignore me…"

"Why would I ignore such a cute Canadian?" you flirted desperately. "Especially when he seems so fond of me, and I of him."

"You…like…me?" he said nervously and hopefully. You nodded.

Kumajirou popped his mouth out of his hand. "This is where you kiss her!"

Matthew gave you an asking look and you nod. You slowly move closer until—

"{_}! I said no boyfriends until you were done raking!"

You looked at him. "You should probably go then, since my dad said no boyfriends."

"I…oh." He smiled a great smile, realizing what you were insinuating. "B-Bye, {_}."

And as he walk off, he wasn't looking, and fell into the pile of leaves.

Maybe Canadian falls weren't so bad.

A/N: So much flashbacking for one story. Anyways, my first X Reader, my first Hetalia fic, so be nice. ;)