Author's Note: This is a one-shot I wrote for last year's PruCan Gift Exchange on Tumblr. The prompt was "Prussia and Canada as superheroes." I didn't really get the superheroes part in, but the superpowers are certainly there. I found this one-shot again while cleaning out my documents and thought I'd post it.

I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes! This is largely unedited. I will explain the AU and Matthew's and Gilbert's powers in greater detail at the end of the fic.

Happy reading!

Their house was small. It was cold. Darkness filled each room, with just enough light to cast odd-shaped shadows on the walls and across the bare floors.

The living room was full of mismatched furniture: an old, threadbare armchair that had once been red but had since faded to pink; a bookcase with its white paint chipping off, on which stood a small TV; and a sofa, which they had picked up at a yard sale last year and which sagged a bit in the middle. Matthew sat at one end of the sofa, staring at the shadows on the wall in front of him.

The shadows began to twitch, forming tendrils that wriggled across the wall, though everything else in the room was still. The tendrils moved and wound together, forming a picture: a shadow-bear, which seemed to stroll leisurely across the wall before disappearing among the still shadows in the corner of the room. A beaver followed behind it, and then a moose. A fourth shadow creature was just starting its journey when another, bigger shadow crossed in front of the only light source, obscuring the pictures for a moment. The sofa cushion beside Matthew shifted, and two arms wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, Mattie," murmured Gilbert, pulling Matthew closer and resting his chin on his shoulder. He looked at the wall, where the parade of animals had begun again. "Playin' with your shadows again, huh?" His voice was harsh and carried a thick German accent.

Matthew smiled, curling against him slightly. "Yes," he said in his quiet tones. "Is there anything you'd like to see?"

"Whatever you wanna make." The arms around Matthew's waist tightened, and Gilbert planted a kiss behind his ear. Matthew laughed lightly.

"I know just the thing, then," he said with a smile, his eyes never leaving the wall.

The shadows stopped moving, settling into their true forms for just a moment before swirling into action again. This time, they formed several small shapes on the otherwise blank white wall. Gilbert sucked in a breath, letting it out as a short laugh.

"It's us," he said, and Matthew nodded. Two human-shaped figures stood at opposite sides of the wall, one of them with a pair of wings spread behind it.

The winged figure strode across the wall toward the other figure, which suddenly vanished. The winged figure froze for a moment, then turned its head this way and that, as though searching.

Gilbert snorted, taking a piece of Matthew's hair between his fingers and giving it a slight tug. "You were always hidin' back then. You still do, sometimes. Scaredy-cat." He gave Matt a good-natured smirk.

"Shush. I'm concentrating."

The winged shadow held very still for a moment; then his wings shifted upwards, the tips flaring out a little. The second shadow-figure suddenly re-formed, standing straighter than it had been before.

"I didn't understand how you could see me at first. No one could. I was invisible whenever I wanted to be. And sometimes when I didn't want to, since I couldn't control my powers yet." Matthew pulled his arm out of Gil's hold and blinked, settling the shadows back into their original shapes. He tilted his head back to look at Gilbert and gave him a smile.

"Well, lucky for you that I have my own awesome powers. Your life woulda been so boring without me. Heh."

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Be that as it may," he said, shifting to wrap an arm around his boyfriend, "It was pretty startling."

"I am pretty startling, huh? In an awesome way, of course."

He lightly flicked Gilbert in the nose. "A white-haired, red-eyed guy with retractable wings? Who could also see me despite my powers of invisibility? Nah, not at all."

"Hey!" Gil wrinkled his nose, then grabbed him tighter and pulled him closer. "Don't be sarcastic with me! It's mean." He pitched his voice into a high, nasally whine. "You're mean to me. Mattie…! So mean."

Matt gave another snort, reaching up to flick his nose again. "You're annoying. You're lucky I love you." He grinned.

Slapping at Matthew's hand, he returned his voice to its usual tone. "What? See, you're mean to me! I grace you with my presence—a great honor!—and this is how you treat me? Gott, I'm a masochist," he muttered. Then, "…Do you mean it when you say you love me, Mattiekins?" Gil batted his eyelashes and pursed his lips, making kissing noises at him.

"You're so weird," laughed Matthew, "and I'm not mean to you. Loser." He grinned to show he was teasing. "And of course I mean it. You know I mean it. I tell you I love you all the time."

"Well, you should show me your love more often! Mean, mean, mean!"

"I do show you! All the time!" Matthew wrapped both arms tightly around Gil, pulling their torsos closer and pressing their lips together. Their noses bumped together uncomfortably—he never could get the angle just right when he initiated kisses, it seemed—and he felt Gilbert reach up to touch his cheek.

After a moment, Matt pulled back a bit, their lips just brushing against each other's. "See?" he asked, his words sending pleasant vibrations to Gil's lips, "I love you."

Gilbert closed the slight distance between them to kiss him again. "You could still show me more often," he muttered, smiling into the kiss. "…Maybe with some awesome Mattie-pancakes?"

Matthew pushed him back, laughing again. "Seriously? That's what you want? Food? Why don't you make it yourself? Jerk."

"Because!" Gil pouted at him, reaching forward to grip Matt's shoulders. "It's your turn, remember? I cooked yesterday. Plus, I like it better when you cook. I get to wrap my arms around your waist and kiss your neck and all that."

"You like to distract me, you mean." Matthew shook his head. "Fine. I'll cook. C'mon…." He moved to stand, but Gilbert pulled him back down.

"Wait! One more kiss, huh, Mattie?" Smirking, Gilbert kissed him again, and Matthew leaned closer, resting his hands against his chest. One kiss turned into two, which turned into five, and behind them on the wall, tendrils of shadows writhed in a joyful dance.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Now, power explanations. I dug through the superpowers wiki for a while before writing this to find suitable powers for each of them. I think I did decently well.

Matthew has Dark Ice Manipulation, meaning he can control shadows and ice. The ice part didn't really make it in, but the shadows certainly did. He can make himself invisible if he has shadows-not pure darkness-and he can teleport through uninterrupted shadows.

Gilbert has powers of flight, due to his wings (which can actually disappear almost entirely into his body) and Enhanced Sight, meaning he can "see the unseen," able to see through invisibility and illusions as well as having night vision.

Since Matthew has resistance to the cold and is most comfortable in semi-darkness, he is sensitive to both heat and light; Gilbert, similarly, is sensitive to light (especially sunlight). So their house is dark and cold because that's the environment they're best suited to.

Please review this story! Thank you! :)