America's smile faded quickly when he realized they were laughing at him and not with him. Again. "So," he said, trying to keep his voice from breaking. "That's a no then."
"Of course it's a bloody no!" England rolled his eyes as the others laughed harder. "You know, America, maybe we should just put a tarp over the Mississippi river so no rain can make it flood again."
America scanned the room and took in all of the people who were snickering with their eyes cast down at the table. The only people who didn't seem amused were Germany and Switzerland. The first nation was frowning deeply at England, probably upset that he was egging this on and the latter looked as if he was ready to pounce on the next person who made a joke. How were they supposed to get anything done around here if every meeting was turned into a circus?
England locked eyes with America and raised an eyebrow. "Are there any other ideas you would like to put out on the table, America?" he asked condescendingly. "Because I'm sure all of us would be pleased to listen to another one of your half baked schemes."
The younger nation bit his lip and looked at the expectant faces around the table. He looked down at his hands and shook his head once. "No... I... I'm done. Thank you." He bowed at the waist slightly and walked quickly back to his seat.
"Okay then," England said, looking down at the packet of papers in front of him. "Let's move on. Germany, you had something you wanted to talk about, right?"
Germany nodded stiffly and walked to the podium. "There seems to be a growing problem..."
America tuned the other country out as he stared down at his hands. They see me as a joke, he thought to himself. I'm nothing but the clown, their little bit of entertainment in the middle of the boring meeting. They probably think of my whole country as a joke.
"So what do you think, America?" Spain asked, casting a humorous look in France's direction.
"I'm sorry?" America asked as Spain pulled him out of his thoughts. He hadn't been listening.
"About Germany's concern. What do you think we should do about it?"
"Oh," he looked around the table and smiled half-heartedly, taking a deep breath. "Well, I agree with England."
There were a few seconds of shocked silence before anyone was able to say anything.
"I... Well... Thank you, America," England sputtered.
Germany nodded at America before continuing, glad that he hadn't thrown out some ridiculous plan. "So, I guess we'll have to vote then. All in favor of England's plan?"
America raised his hand along with everyone else, except France who was looking stubbornly away, and zoned out again as soon as he was able to put his hand back down.
Spain was just trying to see if I would say something stupid. I'm not a nation to them. They see me as a child trying to participate in an adult conversation. I'm just someone that they humor.
The meeting continued as normal for two more hours. China and Italy both brought up some issues in their respective countries which called for more votes.
No one even noticed when America didn't raise his hand or contribute to the conversation. No one asked him questions or even looked his way. As the meeting was coming to a close, America finally understood.
They don't even realize I'm here anymore. I stopped talking and it was like I disappeared. This must be how Canada feels sometimes. If I never talked, they would never know who I am or what I represent.
"I guess we're done for the day, then," England said, standing up. "We were able to get a lot accomplished. It was nice seeing all of you and we'll meet again next month to report on how everything is progressing." He adjourned the meeting and everyone stood up, gathering all their things.
America sat and watched as some of the nations left quickly (such as Romano and Switzerland) and others stayed behind to talk for a while (like Spain, France, and Veneziano). He refused to move an inch until everyone was gone.
From across the room, Veneziano laughed loudly, jolting America a bit. He looked over in time to see the childish nation get chased from the room by Germany who seemed to be missing a shoe.
A part of him was sad to see that he was missing out on the fun, but a bigger part was fed up and frustrated with the nations around him.
Eventually, Romano reappeared in the doorway and frowned at Spain until the older nation followed him out with France trailing close behind.
America sighed with relief and stood up, slowly gathering his papers together. Before he left, he looked around the room idly wondering if the light was always left on. Flipping the switch, he shook his head. No one even noticed.
Dear Diary,
I got tired of being the butt of the joke today,
so I stayed quiet for most of the meeting. Because
I wasn't constantly reminding them exist, they
completely forgot I was there. This isn't the first time.
A/N
The diary entry was courtesy of HetaliaDiaries dot Tumblr. I've decided that a lot of those entries would be nice with a back story, so I think that's a fun bit of things I can do.