A group of us went out bar hopping last night, it was me, Husband, Russian professor, German professor, German professor's intern, and another guy. Since Russian professor was feeling better after we did a whole lot of nothing yesterday, he tagged along as the designated driver.

Let me get off topic, the girl(German intern) asked if we should pregame when we met up without the adults prior to going out. The other guy said yes and I was very much against the idea of pre-gaming with a bunch of Irish blooded German studies students. Can I handle a few shots and maybe some beers? Yes. This girl pulls out a bottle of Everclear and suddenly I'm fearing for my life.

Anyway, thought that was funny. Once the professors show up, these two are mildly buzzed so we drive around looking for places. Am I losing my mind and insanely attracted to this one girl? Sadly. It's a relief when Husband decides on an area with a few bars and Im no longer literally being sat on. Why would Husband order a damn hard seltzer? Five minutes in and he sets his drink down, tugs on Professor's shirt, and sneezes like six times. Sir we JUST got here.

German professor, who has been catching up with everyone, freezes and is like 'bless you, are you okay?' and Russian professor had to be like 'he does this, he's fine'. So we carry on, only me and Professor any the wiser that This will continue. Which is does, Husband leans away and manages ANOTHER like seven sneezes, shakes his head, and says the most outrageous thing. 'The pollen has been bothering me so I thought this would help'. SO YOU WANT ME DEAD? Apparently, since his medicine makes it so he doesn't sneeze as much, hes just constantly itchy (woof) and thought the seltzer would help.

After the first round (and another few sneezing fits, end me) we go across the street. This isnt important but The Girl (who is definitely turning me bi) held my hand and was super giggly about it and UGH. Moving on, this bar is pretty uneventful so we hop to another and this third bar is open to animals. Husband is allergic to Everything so I'm like 'maybe let's skip this one' and he argues that since there's no animals in sight, it's fine. Guess the first thing we see when we get inside? Three big ass Shepherd mixes just chilling.

They were cute, The Girl dragged me over to pet them and they were actually super sweet dogs to be fair. Except Professor is teasing Husband about it the whole time and saying some insane stuff. Like 'you regret that seltzer now. Three dogs? Aren't you allergic to even one dog? They're so fluffy too, how unfortunate'. Im sitting there contemplating if I could ride one of the dogs away to freedom. Husband just orders a few shots with us and it's fine in the beginning until it isnt. He starts sniffling and blinking up at the light, he gets these really hitchy false starts that he's trying to keep quiet. Honestly, I might not have noticed if German Professor didn't lean over and go 'you look like you're gonna sneeze' which makes Husband turn away and let out a LOT of sneezes.

Now I do understand the US is often described as a bit of a phycho, and frankly Canada is an expert at dealing with the phycho. Kudos. Keep the yanks from whipping out their home protection assault rifles and unleashing hell fire is risky shit. Canada manages tho. What I'm really interested in is the USA's view of Canada. They aren't a threat. They aren't suspicious. They are a force to be reckoned with tho, but they are friends. If there is one ally the USA can rely on its the maple sucking french/anglo bastards up north. So much history in such a short time. Fascinating.

To relate this to the bros, I think these two understand eachother better than most. Matt is quiet, obsetvand and passive (mostly), while his unit of a brother is loud, idealistic and prone to thinking the world owes him time on the world stage. And it works. Matt is the one to talk to his brother in a way that gets Alfred to listen. H speaks Alfreds language and can communicate with him freely. I think that that is a skill and in the modern era, a privilage that not many have. Not many dare to tell Alfred to his face that he fucked up majorly, but Matt can. He knows he can. Alfred knows he can. So he does. Matt can pull his brother aside after an outburst, and for the lack of a better word, humble him.

Alfred respects his brothers oppinion more then other nations'. He went from seeing Matt as a weak, self-pitying and ambitionless dominion, to accepting his views, ideas and even asking his oppinion on certain matters. I like to draw a parallel here. Matt had to sacrifice everything and himself to have Arthur call him into the war room and ask Matthew for his oppinion. Alfred is not much different. It takes time for Matthews voice to be heard, but when the time comes, it's desperately needed.

Alfred tho, is and always will be Alfred. And if somthing else catches his attention, he will ignore the house on fire across the street. He is prone to isolation and ignoring his brother for extended periods of time, just sending him a tiktok every month or so. That being the only indication to Matt that his brother is alive. Alfred has so much shit going on and his 13 braincells have to spread evenly across to cover it all. His brother is a constant in his life, stable and therefore forgotten.

That being said, I don't think there is another person on Earth Alfred loves more than his brother. Showing it is not something he ever learned tho. He knows he cannot buy his way into showing his love for Matt, so with his lack skills of other forms of love expressions, he does nothing.

As for Matt, he checks up on Alfred as much as he can. His history and past have tought him to expect nothing form the people he loves. So he doesn't. He knows Alfred is his closest ally and best friend, but doesn't ask for anything Alfred himself isn't giving. He is a person who waits to be asked to hang out on Saturday instead of asking his friends himself.

So while almost all I talked about is sad and somewhat negative, I do think the bond and conversations these two share are one of the most honest and true expressions of brotherly love. And by god I usually don't use the world love when describing nation-folk relationships, but in this case there isn't a replacement.