A/N: This was a little idea I had when I was talking to someone. I think it turned out pretty good c:

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. I just use their characters for my own evil plots mwuhahaha!

"Papa, do we have to go?" Matthew asked, holding onto his guardian's hand and trying to keep up with his long stride.

"Oui, Papa needs to have adult time with his friends." Francis replied, looking straight ahead. Matthew sighed and held his bear closely to his chest.

Francis must have heard the little breath of air, for he looked down at the young boy and smiled gently, "Don't look so down, Mathieu. Lovino and Ludwig will be there too, you can play with them."

Matthew just nodded, and tried to smile. He didn't want to ruin Francis's fun with Gilbert and Antonio, the man's best friend. Though, in all honesty, Matthew didn't really like their kids. Lovino, who's guardian was Antonio, was mean and rude; he said bad words all the time, and loved to insult others. Including the timid little Canadian.

Ludwig, on the other hand, was absolutely terrifying. He rarely said anything, and when he did it was low and menacing. He mostly spoke to scold or discipline, or sometimes to suggest ideas. He had a low tolerance for goofing off, and loved order. He made sure there was always order. Matthew shivered a little.

"Ready to see your friends?" Francis asked with a smile.

Matthew nodded unenthusiastically. They weren't really his friends...

"Good, because we're here." Matthew looked up and saw they had come to Antonio's front door. He clutched his bear tighter as the tall blond man knocked on the door.

A few moments later, a fairly familiar face opened the door. Bright green eyes lit up as he saw the two people on his doorstep.

"Ah, Francis, how's it going? Come in!" Antonio said excitedly.

"Thank you, Antonio," Francis replied. "Come on, Mathieu." He tugged the blonde boy in through the door with him.

Matthew reluctantly followed him inside. He really did not want to be here. If only he could've gone somewhere else. He could've stayed at Arthur's house, and played with his friend Alfred. He loved staying at their house; Arthur was very nice and friendly towards him, and Alfred was always fun to be around. Matthew sighed. Or he could've stayed home alone. He could look after himself, right? Francis probably wouldn't buy that though.

"Lovino!" Antonio called, "Your friend is here! Come say hello!"

"Is it that potato bastard?" Lovino yelled from down the hall, using his favorite insult for Ludwig.

"No, it's Matthew." Antonio responded.

Lovino's face peered around the corner. "He's not my friend." He grumbled.

"Lovino, be nice!" Antonio groaned.

Matthew stayed silent while Lovino angrily made his way over to them.

"Now, go play Matthieu, Antonio and I will be in the kitchen. Ludwig will be here soon too." Francis said.

Lovino groaned and frowned angrily. "Damn. Come on, idiota." Lovino gestured to Matthew to follow him. Matthew glanced up at Francis, unsureness in his eyes, before he trailed behind the little Italian boy.

"Ugh, why did those bastards have to do this? I don't want to play with anyone, especially that potato bastard." Lovino growled, "it's all Antonio's damn fault, for inviting them. Why do they have to be friends anyway?" He walked into another room, and from the mess of toys and clothes strewn about, Matthew assumed it was his.

Matthew bent down to pick up a stuffed toy tomato, when suddenly Lovino growled, "don't touch my stuff, you crap-head!"

Matthew immediately dropped the toy and looked down.

"And dammit, why are you so quiet?"

"I-I don't know..." Matthew mumbled.

"Geez, you should really speak more. No wonder everybody forgets about you."

"Lovino, don't be mean to Matthew."

Lovino's eyes narrowed as he saw another person in the doorway. "Go away, nobody wants you here, you damn potato bastard."

Ludwig ignored his remark and entered the bedroom. "I would rather not be here, but there isn't much we can do about that."

Lovino just snorted. "Why not just tell your stupid brother to leave and take you with him?"

Ludwig rolled his eyes, "don't call my brother stupid."

"I'll do whatever I want, you bastard."

"Don't use such bad words, mein gott."

Matthew sighed as he began to tune out the other two boys. It usually ended up like this, with Lovino and Ludwig fighting. Eventually, Ludwig would get very angry and start yelling. He always did. And Lovino would continue his insults until Ludwig got so mad he was on the verge of scary.

Matthew sat down in the corner and played with his bear. The bear's fur was soft and fluffy, and it comforted him.

"Geez, he brought that dumb bear again." Matthew looked up to see Lovino and Ludwig staring at him. He hadn't even noticed they'd stopped fighting for a moment.

"Kumakichi isn't dumb." He murmured.

"What? I thought his name was Kumajirou." Lovino states.

"That's what I said. his name is Kumayoshi." For whatever reason, Matthew always had trouble remembering what his bear's name was.

Lovino stared at Matthew with a 'are you serious?' look.

"You really are an idiot."

Matthew just looked at the ground and petted his bear.

"Can you even go one minute without insulting somebody?" Ludwig sighed.

"I can too!" Lovino retorted.

"Oh yeah? Well prove it," Ludwig said with a smirk on his face, "Go the rest of the day without insulting anyone, or cursing."

"What? You said only for a minute!"

"What's the matter? Don't think you can do it?" Ludwig taunted.

"No, I can do it! I'll show you, you damn potato bastard!"

"Starting now."

Lovino continued to glare at Ludwig but said nothing.

Ludwig turned to Matthew, "now that I got him to shut up, what should we do?"

"I-I don't know..." Matthew mumbled.

"How about we play a game?" Ludwig suggested, eyeing some of the games on Lovino's shelf.

"No one touches my stuff." Lovino grumbled.

"Fine. we can make up our own game." Ludwig thought for a moment, "How about we play Soldier?"

"What's that?" Matthew asked quietly, but Ludwig didn't seem to hear him.

"What in the world is 'Soldier?" Lovino said, trying his best not to swear.

"Someone gets to be the general and order the soldiers around. He can make the soldiers do anything, and if they disobey he can punish them. If they're good, they get promoted."

"That sounds like a terrible game." Lovino said.

Ludwig rolled his eyes, "then you think of something."

"I don't know any stupid games." Lovino said.

Ludwig sighed in exasperation, "then what are we going to do?"

"How the heck should I know?"

"It's your house! You should know something to do."

30 minutes later, and they still couldn't figure out what to do. Matthew went back to playing with his bear.

"Enough! Let's just not do anything!" Ludwig yelled.

"Fine." Lovino grumbled.

Matthew looked up at the two and sighed. He didn't like it when people were angry or upset. "What about hide and seek?" He suggested quietly.

The two boys glanced at Matthew and nodded.

"I guess that's okay." Lovino said.

"Yeah. I'll count first." Ludwig offered, going into the corner.

"Count to 60." Lovino commanded. Matthew stood up, holding his bear tightly.

As soon as Ludwig started counting, Lovino ran out of the room. Matthew followed behind a little more slowly.

Matthew didn't know of any good hiding places in this house. He'd been here before a few times, but not enough to keep track of everything. Francis, Antonio, and Gilbert visited each other a lot, since they were the best of friends. Sometimes they met at Francis's house, sometimes at Gilbert's or Antonio's, and sometimes they just met at random places. Even then, Matthew had to come. Francis didn't like leaving Matthew behind.

Matthew wondered around, searching for good hiding places but finding none. He went into the kitchen.

Francis, Antonio, and Gilbert were sitting at the kitchen table, talking and laughing. No one seemed to notice his entrance, until Francis turned his head and spotted him.

"What do you want, mon petit?" He spoke. Matthew understood his French endearment, since Francis had taught him French.

"Matthew?" A heavily accented voice asked, and Matthew looked up into bright red eyes.

"Hi Gilbert." Matthew smiled a little. He liked Gilbert; he was interesting and still acted like a little kid, even though he was grown up.

"Mattie! Hey little bird, long time no see!" Gilbert stood from his chair to pick up Matthew. Matthew laughed and hugged him. Gilbert was silly; it wasn't that long since they had seen each other, in fact it was just a few days ago. Gilbert set him down and went back to sit in his chair.

Francis smiled, "so what do you want,?"

Matthew suddenly remembered the game. "We're playing hide and seek and I can't find a place to hide."

"Oh! I have the perfect place for you." Antonio said brightly, standing up and gesturing to one of the cupboards. He opened it and Matthew walked over to examine it. It was empty. It was fairly small, but Matthew was little enough to fit. He smiled and climbed inside.

"Thanks Antonio." He whispered as Antonio shut the door, leaving a little crack open to let in some light. Matthew didn't like the dark. Darkness scared him.

Matthew waited, smiling a little since he had found such a good hiding place. Surely he would win.

As he waited, Matthew could hear Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio talking amongst themselves.

"Matthew has gotten so big!" Gilbert said excitedly, "He's going to grow up so fast."

"I know. And he's so clever and learns fast." Francis said proudly.

Matthew smiled a little at the compliments. The adults continued to talk and Matthew felt his eyelids start to droop, comforted by the soothing voices. He rested his cheek on his bear's soft head and started to doze off.

Matthew awoke to a bright light and Francis crouching in front of him.

Francis smiled gently when he saw Matthew had fallen asleep. "It's time to go, mon petit." He said, reaching into the cupboard to haul Matthew out.

Matthew yawned and rested his small hands on Francis's shoulders, closing his eyes again. He had been in the cupboard for a long time. Ludwig and Lovino must have forgotten about him again.

Francis carried Matthew to the front door.

"He was still in the cupboard?" A loud voice asked, and Matthew knew it was Gilbert.

"Shh, he is asleep." Francis shushed.

"Aw, he's so cute." Antonio cooed.

"And I'm not? Bastard." That was Lovino. He must've decided to stop the dare.

"You are cute too, Lovino." Antonio sighed.

"Dumb bastard."

"Well anyway, thanks for coming." Antonio said.

"It's always a pleasure." Francis smiled.

"Totally fun." Gilbert responded. "Next time we should go to the club."

Both men agreed and they all hugged.

"See you guys later. Stay awesome!" Gilbert exclaimed and opened the door.

"We'll be going now too. Au revoir!"

"Adios!"

Matthew shivered when Francis stepped out into the cool evening air. He snuggled deeper into Francis and sighed happily. Francis gently stroked his hair.

Matthew was carried to the car and Francis placed him inside, buckling his seat belt.

"Mm Papa, I'm tired." Matthew mumbled sleepily.

"I know, mon cher. We will be home soon."

Matthew nodded and drifted off to sleep.

A/N: fun little fact: My brother made me and my sister play 'Soldier' when we were little.