Chapter Text
“I'm not Alfred! we don't even look that similar!!” Matthew whined, attempting to push away the stranger who had him by the arm. The blunt pain of her nails digging into his skin was enough to make his eyes prick with tears.
“Come on, you can't just attack another country and then deny your own existence, asshole!”
So Alfred had started another war, Matthew was honestly surprised it had taken so long.
Before Matt could rebuke his assailant's claim, a fist collided with his face.
The woman who hit him finally let go of his arm, pushing him roughly and walking away. She was angrily muttering something unintelligible under her breath, and Matthew was left shakily staring after her as his lip began to bleed. He wiped it on his sleeve before thinking, leaving a dark reddish brown streak on his sweater.
The day after the woman punched him, he resolved to do something. He had two options: the first was to confront Alfred, but that was… terrifying, so he went with his second, and admittedly worse option.
Matthew's chance came to him during one of the world meetings, which he continued to attend, even though no one would notice if he didn't.
Arthor had gotten especially angry about something –probably related to Francis– and stormed out of the conference room. The thing was, he forgot his weird little star wand thing that he was always waving around. Matthew snatched up the wand without thinking, for once he was extremely grateful for his imperceptibility in the eyes of the others.
The polar bear –whose name Matthew could never remember– had noticed him, but it had forgotten who he was again, so the Canadian wasn't particularly worried.
After the meeting Matthew hurried home with the wand in his bag.
Matthew wasn't sure if he actually believed in the strange Englishman's magical prowess, but anything was better than talking to his brother, so there he was, in the dead of night in front of a circle of candles.
“uhm,” he started, not exactly sure what the proper etiquette for this kind of thing was. He decided the best bet was to state his wishes. “I need something that stops people from thinking I'm Alfred. Or uh- maybe something that protects me from.. the others.”
He touched his lip gingerly where it had been split by the punch, it was bleeding again, he must have been chewing it – he was nervous after all.
He waved the wand around, feeling very stupid whilst doing so. For a few seconds there was no effect. Matt was just about to blow out the candles when he was blinded by a sudden fluorescent light which engulfed the entire room.
When Matthew opened his eyes there was a dark shape manifesting before him in the center of the light. It was hard to look at, and it didn't seem to have any distinct shape at first, but after a moment the creature absorbed the light, and suddenly it was a solid being.
The stark contrast after the light dissipated left Matthew momentarily blind again, but after his eyes adapted to the candle-lit room he could see it.
The monster was kneeling, it was wearing an entirely black suit with a long jacket.
The main details which captivated Matthew's attention were the rather large curled horns atop it's head, the tail wound around its legs, and the sharp, thin, bat-like wings which protruded from its back.
The creature beant towards Matthew, daintily running a finder over his bloody lip, bringing it to his tongue and licking it. “Hello.” It smiled at him with a terrifying sweetness somewhat reminiscent of Matthew's fellow country representative, Ivan who was universally feared.
Maybe it was the fact that Matthew had just summoned a… demon? or maybe it was that said demon had just been licking HIS blood off its forefinger, but either way, Matthew was paralyzed. He stared up at the creature from his place at it's feet.
“You look scared.” the demon frowned, “Didn't you do this on purpose?..” it gestured towards the candles.
Matthew swallowed. “I- well- I wanted to- to not be mistaken for my brother. I didn't… uhm…”
“That's not what you said. You wanted protection.” It reminded him. “I'm (y/n).” He introduced himself, holding out his hand as if his name was sufficient explanation.
“And you're a… demon?” Matthew ventured, hesitantly shaking his hand.
(y/n) snorted “What gave me away?”
Matthew opened his mouth, but he couldn't think of anything to say. “That was a joke, It's pretty obvious huh, Mattie.” He unfurled one large wing, citing it as an example.
Matthew was even more confused, “...how do you know my name..?”
He promptly pulled Matthew to his feet by the hand, pulling his arm forward to examine the marks from the woman's nails. “We have our ways. Anyway, I won't let any of those freaks do things like that to you anymore,”
The demon gently pushed him backward towards his bed. “It's late – you humans are supposed to sleep a ton or something.” He paused for a moment. “you're not human, but I assume it's the same. Right?"
Matthew nodded, “I- yeah I guess. don't you sleep?”
The demon shrugged as he curled up on the floor right beside the bed, “If I want. I'm not technically alive though, so I don't have to.”
“I think there's been a mistake…” Matthew ventured. “I just wanted a spell or something… I dunno.”
the demon huffed. “I'll keep you safer than some flimsy spell. No one else will lay a finger on you from now on.
Matthew could see he was out of options since he was too Canadian to ask the creature to leave, and it was already past midnight, plus he had another meeting with the other countries tomorrow, meaning he had to wake up somewhat early, so he pulled the covers over himself and hoped that the demon he summoned wouldn't try to rip his organs out or anything.