A/N: I don't know what this is, but it's a gift fic for catskid100 and Tamer Lorika. I'm sorry it took so long, and that is it so very different than originally planned. D: Instead of a one-shot, this will have multiple parts. Like I said, it's completely different from how it started out (Oh, about a month ago...) but it's still FrCan, so... yay? *hides*

Quietly, Quietly

first

1.
Matthew is used to blending into the background. He is used to stepping down and letting others have the limelight, especially his brother, Alfred, because it has always been this way. Even now, with him at university and Alfred living with people he had met over the summer in the next town over- even now Matthew is used to the lack of attention.

He hardly ever sees his flat-mate and never speaks to anyone outside of his family and a few of his coworkers. At school and work he is pleasant and polite- his is the sort of personality that makes him approachable for some things: Asking to borrow his notes or to run an errand, for example, but it is not the sort of personality that makes women notice him or that gets him invited out for a few beers with the guys.

Even so, Matthew is perfectly content. He lives a quiet, drama free life. He has everything that he could ever want; he's going to school, he has a stable, at least somewhat-fulfilling part-time job, he lives in a nice area, and in a few months he will finally be able to buy that car he's had his eye on.

Matthew can find nothing to complain about. He is perfectly happy.

2.
But sometimes he will lay awake at night and wonder: What would it be like to be Alfred? To be adored, sought after, wanted by everyone he met?

Matthew thinks that it would be tiring and troublesome.

He also thinks that he's not all that sure that he's not just jealous.

3.
Every weekday morning Matthew walks to the little family diner down the street from his apartment to have breakfast. He always orders the same thing (pancakes and Canadian bacon with coffee), he always sits at the same booth (the right corner, furthest from the door), and he always has the same waitress (a cute Ukrainian woman with short, light-colored hair).

But today he has a different server, a man. And he is told, with a French accent and an air of superiority that no one could miss, that his name is Francis.

4.
"What can I get for you, mon cher?"

"Where is Katyusha?"

"Ah, she has decided to take a vacation with her family and will be gone for a few days."

"Um... I don't think I've ever seen you here before..."

"All the more reason to get to know each other then, oui?"

5.
Five minutes into their first conversation- and it isn't even a conversation, really. He's just taking his order- Nonetheless, five minutes in and Matthew already knows that he does not like Francis.

And he does not like Francis because he reeks of conquest and heartbreak. Furthermore, he does not like Francis because the man had the audacity to think that he does.

(The fact that Matthew is rather flattered by the attention and intrigued by the Frenchman's flamboyant, carefree mannerisms is completely beside the point.)

Oh, in the back of his mind he is willing to admit that the attention pleases him. Francis seems so interested, seems so interesting- taking his order with a wink, asking him about himself, where he lives, telling him funny stories and refusing to leave his table to check on his others. Matthew almost doesn't mind that Francis is blatantly looking for a hookup- that's just the sort of man Francis is, he's sure- because he is too caught up in the moment. After all, no one has ever really given him this sort of attention before.

But Matthew has his pride to consider. And really, where would this get him?

No, Matthew is already so easily forgotten. He will not be just another forgotten notch on someone's bedpost as well.

6.
It is the next morning and Matthew has forgotten all about the pervious day. That is until he walks up to the diner and happens to glance in the window and sees- black apron, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, blond hair pulled back, and that knowing, almost-smirk.

They make eye contact. Francis drops the smirk -and his eyes- and a soft smile appears on his face. He beckons for him to come in with an inviting tilt of his head and a playful gesure. Matthew finds himself at a crossroad.

He stands there, practically frozen and completely embarrassed at the attention. The situation is only made worse when he realizes that he is standing outside a diner looking like an idiot and he cannot bring himself to do anything but turn around and take the long way to work.

He does not have breakfast that day.

7.
It is the weekend.

More precisely it is Saturday evening and Alfred is four hours late.

This probably means that he will not be coming, and will not remember that he has forgotten until next Wednesday or Thursday, when he will call and apologize and be immediately forgiven.

Matthew glances at the clock; it is close to eleven. He supposes that it would not hurt to go to the bar alone. He's bound to find someone there he knows.

He checks himself over in the mirror to make sure that he looks presentable, then feels silly for staring at himself and pretends that he doesn't care that his hoodie is wrinkled and his hair won't do as he says.

He leaves his apartment and walks the two blocks to the bar.

8.
The bar is crowded and it is obvious by the amount of students that it is probably someone's nineteenth birthday party.

He orders a Labatt Bleue and gives the bar a look-around: if all else fails, Arthur is usually there. But not tonight. So Matthew takes his drink and heads to an empty corner. It is not that he minds the people and the noise, on the contrary, he finds it amusing to watch and sometimes even wishes to get involved in all the silly, pointless fun. It's just that he would feel odd trying to include himself when he wouldn't even know where to begin.

So he is content to sit back and drink his beer and watch- as Alfred drinks a shot of who-knows-what off of some nameless girl's stomach.

Matthew takes another sip and hardly tastes it as he wonders how many other times his brother has simply "forgotten" about him.

9.
It's like clock-work. Every Sunday afternoon Matthew will take the twenty minute bus ride to the zoo and he will walk past the exotic birds and the gorillas and the elephants and head straight for the aquarium to watch the polar bears.

This Sunday is no different.

For a few minutes he stands a few feet away from the glass just watching them swim, but then it seems as if one of them has noticed him and, with child-like curiosity, it swims towards him and Matthew, holding his breath, takes a step forward.

"Are you happy?" he whispers. He is not sure who he is asking.

"It always seems as though you are running away."

Someone is standing next to him. He sees in the blurred reflection before them that it is Francis.

"I half expected you to disappear on me when I spotted you," he continues, playfully teasing him.

Matthew gives him a strange look, but when Francis turns to face him he cannot look him in the eye. He means to reprimand him for bothering him, but his voice just comes out like its usual whisper. "E-excuse me?" he asks.

Francis sighs. "You haven't come by the diner in a while. And last night you left the bar before I got the chance to speak with you. I didn't think I'd had enough time to offend you," he laughs. "Are you avoiding me?" The question is meant to be playful, but the hint of uncertainty in his voice is not lost on Matthew and it leaves him confused, wondering why it is even there.

"Are you stalking me?" he finally counters, uncharacteristically bold.

Francis chuckles. "Would you believe me if I told you that I just keep happening to run into you?"

Matthew doesn't have anything to say to that. He would really like to roll his eyes at that horribly cheesy line, but instead his heart has started to beat erratically and his palms have grown sweaty.

"No," he says after a moment.

At that Francis gives a good, hearty laugh. "You are too much," he says. "Why is it that I always see you alone?"

Matthew has lifted a hand to the glass and has begun to gently trace invisible designs on it with his index finger, wishing that the polar bear would come back.

"They're solitary creatures," he says aloud, mostly to himself.

"But I was talking about you, mon cher, not the bears."

Matthew gives a slight shrug. They don't speak any more after that.

10.
Francis has not left, and Matthew feels uncomfortable standing with him so he turns to leave.

Francis stops him, lightly catching his arm. Matthew instantly pulls back with a frown and Francis has the decency to look down, knowing he has over-stepped.

Matthew stares at him. "What?" he finally asks.

Francis shakes his head and Matthew is certain he is wondering to himself, 'Why am I even bothering?'

Instead, he says, "If I gave you my number, would you call me?"

Matthew thinks that yes, he probably would. But what good would it do?

So he shakes his head no and quietly walks back to the bus stop. He does not run into Francis again.