More Time
Matthew noticed that his father, Arthur, spent way more time with Alfred than himself. He thought that perhaps he could buy some of his time off of work hours so they could spend time together. He asked one of the older nations, Gilbert, if he knew how much he made, who asked Francis, who told him, thus returning back to Matthew. $80. That was a lot of money, and that was only for one hour. It was worth it to him, though. He picked up change he spotted on the street, found bottles and brought them to the depot to get money, and helped Ivan clean his house, (the bigger nation felt bad for the child and gave him $30 for helping clean the place), and soon he had $80. Just in luck for him, it was one of those rare times where Arthur saw Mattie.
"Daddy, daddy!" He ran as fast as his little legs could take him.
"What is it, Matthew?" Arthur asked with a smile.
"I always see you with Alfred, and you both seem to laugh and be happy, and I wanted to feel happy too, so I earned $80 so I could buy an hour of your time from work so you could play with me" he explained to Arthur, who's smile was quickly removed. He saw the excited smile on Matthew's face and almost started crying. How could he neglect him so much, yet he worked to get $80 within the past week just to get a single hour of his time.
"I'm so sorry, Matthew" Arthur said with a pained expression. The smaller male's smile dropped.
"You can't spend time with me, can you? I-I want you to have to anyway, because I don't want it." He shoved the money into Arthur's hands and ran to his room, tears streaming down his cheeks. It took a moment for Arthur to realize what had happened, but when he did, he noticed Matthew took the apology as his sorry for not being able to play with him. He looked down at the coins and bills in his hands, his eyes counting out exactly $80. He set it on the mantle above the fireplace and walked over to Matthew's room, knocking on the door.
"Matthew?" He called out, to which he heard muffled crying in response. A burning pang of guilt sat in his heart and stomach. Twisting the metal doorknob, he opened the door and peeked his head inside. The first thing he noticed was broken glass on the floor, the color pink. He then saw Matthew on the floor beside the glass, picking up a few coins and a $5 bill. Rushing up to Arthur, Matthew held them out desperately, tears still running freely down his cheeks.
"Is this enough? Will this be enough for you to play with me, daddy? With all of the other money?" He asked, showing $8 in his tiny hands. Before Arthur could respond, the small child continued.
"I could go get more. I could ask to clean someone else's house. Maybe Mr. Austria's. Or Mr. Germany's. I can find more bottles. Just give me a little more time and I can get more." He sobbed, rubbing his eyes with the ends of his red sweater sleeves. Arthur felt the same pang hit his heart, this time stronger. Why was Matthew so selfless? He should be mad at Arthur, not paying him and thinking it was his fault that he couldn't earn the time.
"Wait! I remembered where I kept more." He made a move to turn around but Arthur caught him by the waist.
"D-Daddy? I'm getting you more. I want to be able to spend time with you. Please daddy." He begged, reaching his arms out for a box at the bottom of his closet. It was money he kept in case of emergencies.
"Matthew, all of this... the money, working..." He trailed off, still surprised and heartbroken by his little boy.
"It's not enough, is it? Tell me how much, I'll get it. Daddy... please tell me. Look, see, I'll get my box and see how much I have in there. Then I will-" he was cut off by Arthur.
"No, Matthew. That's not what I meant." He told him, keeping his arms wrapped gently around the boy, but tight enough that he couldn't go anywhere.
"Do you mean that you can't spend time with me, even if I do give you money? I thought that if I could give you as much as your work does then you wouldn't have to go for that hour and you could come home early and play with me. Y-you could teach me to make scones, anything. I don't care what we do, as long as I get to spend time with you." Matthew's violet eyes never stopped shedding tears, his small fists clenching Arthur's shirt.
"Matthew, please. I do not need your money, you are more important than any amount of wealth or power one could have. I meant that you do not need to pay me to get me to spend time with you. I'm so sorry I haven't been paying attention to you. We can do whatever you want, today and tomorrow. It'll just be you and me." Arthur said to him, wiping away all of the tears that left Matthew's eyes. He knew that he had been neglecting Matthew far too much, by the desperate tone in his voice. The Englishman knew everyone hated his scones, even Matthew, yet here he was, wanting to do something, anything with Arthur, that it could even be learning how to make those awfully dreaded scones. His eyes no longer seemed so sad, but instead held a sparkle. Arthur has never felt guilt so strongly in his life.
