Title:  High School AU
Fandom:  Axis Powers Hetalia
Pairing:  Alfred/Matthew [U.S.A./Canada] as main pairing; Elizabeth/Roderich [Hungary/Austria], Ludwig/Feliciano [Germany/N.Italy]
Categories:  AU, romance, humor
Length:  Long [~22,000 words]
Warnings:  are you prepared for a lacrosse game as a metaphor for WWII?


Author on LJ:  jekaro 
Website:  n/a

Summary:  Alfred and Matthew are best friends, and new students at Unity North Secondary.  As they become a part of the lacrosse teams' rivalry, Matthew grapples with his hopeless crush on heterosexual-and-taken Alfred.

Review:  I have never seen in any other fic such a smooth rendering of canon into an AU, or of history into metaphor.  I would never have thought that WWII would ever work as a high school sports rivalry, but it does.  The story works so well on both the literal and metaphorical levels, that I actually didn't realize until the final game that there was a metaphor at all -- and then I tore through the past chapters, finding numerous signposts even on the first page.  Even the smallest details fit, if the reader thinks about it, into some part of the overarching metaphor.

Every single character is spot-on in characterization, and the brief interludes from the East Block characters are wonderful.  Since no countries are ever mentioned, those not familiar with canon can still enjoy the story as just a high school original fic -- but there is a certain pleasure in sleuthing out the identities of the characters who Matthew does not name, or who have no "human" names in canon. (Alfred's "girlfriend Nor" did throw me off, but the bonus material made me slap myself for not realizing who Nor was.)  Matthew is the main character, and it's only his head that we see into, but he's a charming narrator, and so much like a teenager, it's ridiculous.  Part of the fun is in trying to determine whether Matthew is right about Alfred's heterosexuality... he's not, as it happens, but I won't spoil Alfred's explanation, other than to say it is very American. 

High School AU:  Part 1   East Block Interlude   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 5   Part 6 
and additional:  Bonus Material   Sexy Ending  [R/NC-17]
Or read it all together at the Kink Meme