Pushing strands of his hair back behind his ear and taking in deep, calming breaths, Canada walked down the hall to the conference room with his head down and worry racing through his mind. They're all going to hate it, he thought to himself as he got closer. Maybe I should just go home and say I got sick. Or just leave now and not give them any notice. No, they'll worry about-
"Hey, Mattie!" a familiar voice shouted from down the hallway, interrupting his previous thoughts. Oh no! "Hi, Alfred," Canada quietly said back, waiting for his response. "Dude, I was just-what happened to your hair?" I knew it, he hates it!
"Dude, is that a tattoo? And are you wearing contacts?" America asked, now standing just a couple feet away from the Canadian. Rubbing the back of his neck and keeping his gaze to the floor, Canada quietly responded, "I thought it was a good idea at the time, but it might be a little much."
Just as America opened his mouth to respond, he was interrupted by two others suddenly joining in on their conversation. "Canada, is that you, mon ami?" asked France as his pace quickened to get over to his friend's side. "It is!" he exclaimed, smiling a bit.
Before Canada could really respond, France had untucked his hair from behind his ears and promptly began to examine it. "I like the cut. Ohonhonhon, and the red really brings out your eyes." Pulling away, Canada let his red streaked bangs fall into his eyes and he quickly muttered, "Thanks."
"Leave him alone, frog," Britain said pushing France out of the way. Glancing over at Canada, the Brit quickly said, "Nice maple leaf tattoo" and left it at that. Reaching up and gingerly touching the still new ink marking below where his neck and jawline met, Canada once again muttered a "Thanks."
"Speaking of which," America said, digging through one of his pockets, looking for something. Suddenly finding it, he whipped it out and loudly announced, "I'm about to save you from a life-time of humiliation!" Before Alfred could slap an American flag on top of the maple leaf, Canada already had his hand in the way and was muttering, "Do we have to go through this again?"
"What do you-"
Quickly changing the subject, France asked, "So mon ami, what inspired you to change your look?"
How do I tell them about everyone confusing me with America? Canada thought as he started to panic a bit even though it wasn't the first time he was forced to answer that same question that week.
"So what inspired you to get this, uh, style?" the hairdresser asked as she carefully cut off tendrils of his wavy blond hair. It wasn't being cut extremely short, about three inches were being took off so it was still a noticeable difference.
"I have my reasons," Canada said for the second time that week.
"Did you recently breakup with someone or is it something else?"
"No, no. Not that. It's just... Sorry for bothering you with this, but people just keep confusing me with my brother and...nevermind. I'll quit distracting you."
"You're not distracting me. I like talking to people. Plus I understand what it's like having a brother. They're super annoying sometimes."
"You don't know the half of it," Canada whispered, staring at his violet eyes in the mirror.
"Like what?" America asked suddenly, looking at his brother.
"Nothing," Canada whispered, moving further down the hall towards the conference room. "Well, it's obviously not," England said, walking behind him with America and France following along as well. Putting a hand on Canada's shoulder, France calmly said, "You can tell us."
"It's nothing," Canada said again.
"Dude, it's no big deal. Just tell us," America said somewhere behind him. It's no big deal getting beat up because other countries confuse you with me. It's not big deal getting insulted because of you. It's really no big deal, he thought bitterly, stopping and turning to face the three of them in front of the conference room door.
"Maybe it's because I wanted people to stop confusing me with you," he finally snapped at America, before spinning around on his heels and walking into the conference room.
Sitting down in one of the chairs facing the door, all Canada could think was, What have I done? They're all going to hate me now. Folding his arms across the table and then laying his head down on them, his feet moved forward, farther under the table, and accidentally kicked something soft.
"Hey, watch it!" a little voice with a British accent yelled. Jumping out of his seat a bit and pushing his chair back, away from the table, Canada said without thinking, "I'm so sorry." There, crouching under the table, was Sealand. "Sealand? What are you doing here?"
"I was hoping to impress the other countries with good suggestions on how to fix the world's problems so they would finally see me as a country," he said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why are you under the table?"
"Well, I can't have them throwing me out before the meeting even begins!"
Before Canada could respond, the door opened and, in a panic, caused the Canadian the almost squish poor Sealand while quickly pushing his chair back in.
"Were you talking to someone, Canada?" Britain asked walking in the door.
"No," he quickly replied, hoping he didn't sound nervous.
"I thought I heard voices."
"Must just be your 'imaginary friends' again, Britain," America laughed.
Turning around, getting rather angry, Britain snapped, "They are just as real as you are, America!" Chuckling to himself a bit as he walked in, France walked past the two bickering countries and towards a seat several down from Canada. As he passed, he leaned down and whispered in his ear, "I really like how the red brings out your eyes." Canada gave him a polite, small smile as France sat down. Seconds later America was sitting just a seat away from Canada on his right and Britain next to him.
The room was awkwardly silent as the four sat at the "U" shaped, wooden table that took up most of the room. Pulling seams of his shirt under his suit coat, Canada kept looking up at the door hoping that someone would push them open and relieve the suffocating silence. Was it getting hot in here? Maybe it was just because he had the sun on him because of the giant glass windows behind him.
Just when he thought the deafening, awkward silence strangle him, they showed up.
The doors flung open as the energetic Italy followed by Germany and quiet Japan entered the room. Italy was in the middle of saying something, but as soon as he walked and his eyes landed on Canada, the previous conversation didn't matter. "Who are you?"
"I'm Canada." Sometimes he wished he could just speak louder, maybe then others would know who he was without him having to explain every single time. Italy stood there for several seconds staring at him, before smiling widely and happily saying, "Ve, it's very nice to meet you!"
"Italy he's been to these meetings before," Germany sighed, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Really? How come I've never seen him here before?"
"Don't worry, people usually don't notice me." It was true, he'd probably been to over twenty meetings before even the nations he sat next to noticed he was there. But he was used to being invisible.
"Oh," Italy basically whispered, looking down slightly. After several other awkward, silent seconds the three sat down at the table opposite of Canada, France, America, and Britain.
It had only managed to quiet for a couple moments, when Canada suddenly felt someone tug on his pant leg. "Move back, will you?" Sealand asked quietly from under the table. Canada felt bad for forgetting about him, he knew from experience how it felt to be forgotten about.
"Did you hear something?" America asked, his head perking up from his phone.
"No, of course not," Canada said and he scooched back, giving the almost-country a little more room under the table.
"No, I heard it too," Britain said, looking confused.
"I heard something as well," Japan said.
"Same here," Italy agreed. Oh no... How do I respond to this.
"Maybe it was just America's phone," France suggested.
"Dude, I'm pretty sure it wasn't my phone."
Suddenly the doors opened revealing a tall figured that was heavily dressed. "Hello," Russia said as he walked in. "Sorry if I am late."
"Why does he have to be here?" Britain snapped standing up.
"I would ask the same of you, Britain," France calmly fired back. "But this is the first you hear me complain about it, today."
"Quiet you, frog! This isn't about you!"
"Will you two please just—" Germany started, but was interrupted by the loud bickering of the other two countries.
"You bloody little git! I never—"
"Oh so sure of yourself! Tu est trés vaniteux, Angleterre!"
"I'm not—"
"Oui you a—"
The two seemed completely absorbed in their little gray cloud of fighting that they never noticed Russia sitting down beside Canada, or America taking pictures—probably just to upload them to some social media website—or Italy growing uncomfortable thanks to the fighting. So far it was just a normal meeting and they probably would have been at each other's throats all day had Germany not spoken up.
"If you two don't mind, we have to start the meeting now!"
Pulling away from each other, they moved back to their seats. Along with the six other nations, Canada turned his attention to Germany who started the meeting off. Apparently they were still on the subject of international trade, and how they could create a system that allowed everyone to trade freely without restrictions, similar to the European Union. I thought we cleared this up last time, Canada thought to himself boredly, his fingers absentmindedly playing with his curl. Can't we talk about something that affect us all, like Global Warming.
Snapping back to reality, Canada glanced up at Germany, still going on about trade, not noticing Russia leaning closer to him.
"I like the new look," he whispered almost silently in Canada's ear, causing a slight shiver to run up his spine. "I think the older children would call it 'punk,' but I like it no matter what category it fits under." Oh crap...how on Earth do I respond to that? I have to respond. Just say something!
"Thank you," Canada mumbled almost breathlessly. Hoping that would be the last of people flocking over him, he returned his attention back to the German who was practically running the whole meeting.
Unfortunately for poor Canada, the whispering between him and Russia wasn't over yet.
"Did you do this to get noticed?" Russia whisper-asked half way through the meeting.
"Kind of," Canada whispered back, just wishing someone would notice and make him stop. Russia was just curious, and despite how it annoyed him, Canada just couldn't bring himself to tell him to stop talking to him and pay attention to the meeting. In all fairness, his hair and new tattoo was probably more interesting than what Germany was now going on about. What were they at now? Taxes?
It only took a couple seconds for Canada to realize that they had actually gotten onto a topic he cared about. Global Warming. Dang it! I should have been paying attention. he scolded himself, trying to catch up. Thank goodness Germany wrote down everyone's answers.
"Create big superhero to get rid of it"... That'll never work. "Reduce the number of cars on the road"...wait what? How? No... "Get a really big fan and cool the world down"... That's not going to even work. Plus it's self contradictory. "Figure out a way to run most of, or all of, the appliances in the world on fuel that made by renewable resources." Finally someone! Canada thought while reading through what the others had previously answered.
"Canada," Germany asked, bringing him back into reality. "Do you have any other ideas?" Everyone turned and looked at him. You can do this Matthew. You wanted to be recognized, now's your chance.
"Well, as mentioned earlier, we should definitely be figuring how to make energy and fuel, but in the mean time we should focus more on reducing pollution and saving what non renewable resources we have. For instance, encouraging more people to walk places, or ride bikes, or even carpool," he said while glancing America, who was actually paying attention for once.
He talked for another minute or so on the subject before finishing. Russia backed up his ideas with a couple of his own, along with Britain who also added on to what Canada said with other ideas. So this is what it feels like to be noticed for once, he thought trying not smile.
Then just as they were wrapping up, something pushed past Canada's leg and popped up behind him. "Hi everyone, I'm Sealand!"
There was a groan from Britain's end of the table. "I have an idea that might just help you!"
"You're not even a country, you little prick," England snapped a bit, getting up out of his chair.
"But I can help!" Sealand protested as England picked him up by the back of the shirt and tossed him out into the hall. Just as the door closed again, there was someone banging and yelling at the other side of it.
Sitting back down, he muttered what sounded vaguely like an apology.
Acting as though there had been no interruption at all, Germany continued on with the meeting switching over to the next subject. And the rest of the meeting finished quite uneventfully.
Getting up out of his chair, Canada walked out of the almost empty room. He would have left earlier with the other nations had Russia not bombarded him with millions of new questions. It wasn't like he didn't like him, it was just that there was something about him, just a tiny little thing about him, that freaked him out a bit.
It could have been worse, Canada thought as he pushed open the door that lead out to the hall way. As he walked back to the door that he came in from the parking lot, he never noticed little Sealand sitting off to the side, pouting, or the fact that someone else was running to catch up with him.
"Hey Mattie, wait up! Dude, I wanna talk to you real quick!" America yelled as he quickly made his way down the hall. What does he want? Oh no, I hurt his feeling earlier, didn't I? Matthew, you really screwed up this time. "Look, America, I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier."
"What? Why?"
"I thought I hurt your feelings." What's going on here? He looks confused. What could he possibly want to talk to me about?
"You didn't hurt my feelings, bro. But that's kind of what I wanted to talk about," America said having caught up with him. He hates me. I knew it he hates me now.
"How long have people been confusing you with me?" He doesn't really care does he? This is America, he couldn't possibly... Swallowing hard and rubbing the back of his neck a little, Canada quietly responded, "Since we were little."
Looking a little shocked at the news, America almost quietly said, "Oh...I'm sorry that I never noticed before. It's just that nobody's ever confused me with you before."
"Yeah, well that's probably because no one notices me either." Why was he suddenly so bitter about the topic? He'd never felt resent towards America. Sure he's gotten annoyed with him on several occasions, but he was his brother and he was used to the way he acted. Plus sometimes it good not to be noticed because no one bothered him.
"So it wasn't completely because of me?" America asked cautiously, trying to look Canada in the eye, even though his gaze was glued to his shoes.
"I said, 'reasons,' didn't I? Besides it doesn't really matter."
"Dude, it so does matter. If you don't like not being noticed, I'll make sure people notice ya!"
"Really?" Canada asked, slightly thrown aback by the statement. Russia had done something similar by sitting next to him no matter what during every meeting, even though he had said multiple times that it was fine and that he didn't have to, but he insisted.
"Of course, dude!" America kind of shouted wrapping an arm around his brother and giving him an one-armed hug. It was weird to have America hugging him. No one had really hugged him in a long time, except Kumajirou, who had been recognizing him more in the last week.
"I think you're fine just the way you are, Senpai," said a voice behind the two. Turning around, they found little Sealand standing behind them, looking up at them with big blue eyes.
"S-Senpai?" Canada asked, mildly confused for a couple seconds before getting the reference.
"It's just something I learned from Japan," the little micro-country said quietly, looking down at his shoes for a minute or so. Smiling a bit, Canada walked a couple steps forward and embraced him in a quick hug while muttering, "Thanks" into his ear.
After the moment had finished, America fairly loudly asked, "So do you guys wanna go get burgers or something?"
"Of course!" Sealand said excitedly, smiling from ear-to-ear. "None of the other countries will actually recognize that I exist, let alone take with them to go get food!"
"That'd be fun," Canada replied, a smile still pulling the sides of his mouth up. Smiling, more excited than before, America basically shouted, "McDonald's it is then!"
"Alfred we're not going to McDonald's."
"But McDonald's is kick-a, man!"
"We're not going to McDonald's," Canada said again.
"Fine, man. Whatever," America said, letting it go. "But I'm driving us there."
"Okay."
Practically jumping up and down with excitement, Sealand half shouted, "This is going to be the best day ever!" before running through the doors ahead of America and Canada. Smiling, Canada happily thought, It really is, Sealand. It really is.
So that was my first story! Thank you for reading!
Sorry if it was fast-paced, or seemed very simple-natured, this was just meant to be a quick, fun(ish) story.
If you have any headcanons/prompts that you want me to write, feel free to message me!
Have a fabulous day!