"Hold Still, Kumajiro." Matthew snickered, finishing putting his necktie around his bear's neck. "That's not too tight, is it?"
"No."
"Perfect. Oh, one more thing." Matthew snickered again as he slid his glasses off of his face and perched them on his bear's snout. Then, he picked Kumajiro up and set him in his chair. Canada was at the meeting hall, he had gotten there before anyone else had a chance to show up. Everyone had been made aware of his existence, recently, courtesy of Gilbert standing on the table and yelling "ARE YOU GUYS BLIND OR STUPID?" They had promised to pay a bit more attention to Canada, but, of course, they weren't doing too well. Matthew understood, really. It was hard to remember such a soft-spoken person who barely made himself known. But just because he understood, didn't mean it didn't annoy him. He gently set Kumajiro up at the table, his front paws resting on the tabletop.
"I'm hungry."
"If you go through with this, I'll make you some pancakes when we get home as a special treat. Okay? Now, hang on a second." Matthew roamed around the room, looking for something. He smiled as he found a thread lying on the floor.
"Now I just need..." He trailed off as his eyes landed on a pen cup sitting on the table. Quietly, he took out a yellow highlighter and proceeded to color the thread with it. Then, he took two pieces of tape. The first piece was used to tape the thread to itself to create a loop. The second was used to fasten the makeshift curl to Kumajiro's fur. Smiling to himself, Matthew stepped back to admire his handiwork.
"You're still obviously a bear... but I doubt anyone will notice." At that moment, a door clicked open and the sound of footsteps advanced on the meeting room.
"Are you ready to go, Kumajiro? I'll do all the talking, you just sit there. Okay?"
"Okay."
Matthew snickered and ducked behind the ceiling-to-floor curtains that surrounded the meeting room windows. The door to the room swung open, and Germany walked in, lost in thought. He gave Kumajiro a small nod as he went over to his place at the table to unpack his papers. Small mutterings could be heard as he rearranged his papers and messed with a world map.
"... don't know how he does it... can't just teleport... always in my bed in the morning... don't understand... always cooking pasta..." Eventually, Germany sighed and sat down. The next person to walk in was England.
"Hello Matthew." He said, walking past Kumajiro without so much as blinking. "Ah, Germany. Might I talk to you a moment...?" England migrated over to Germany's section of the table, and the two began discussing the meeting schedule for the day. One by one, everyone else filed into the room. China, Russia, America, Japan, Italy, Romano, Austria, Hungary, and the rest of the world. A few people bid 'Canada' a quick 'hello', but on one seemed to notice that Kumajiro was the one at his place. Matthew quietly laughed to himself, turning to face the window. It was a beautiful day outside, and off in the distance he could see Switzerland chasing someone around with his shotgun. To the left, there was Korea trying to explain to Czech that he invented spas, and to the right, Sealand and France appeared to be forming the 'let's get England' club. The things you miss when you stare gloomily at a wall for a whole meeting... Matthew thought to himself, momentarily forgetting where he was.
"Birdie?"
Matthew yelped and jumped, spinning around to face the confused Prussian that had drawn the curtains back slightly.
"G-Gilbert!" Hurriedly, he grabbed Gilbert's arm and pulled him behind the curtain, pushing it back to where it had been.
"Birdie, why are you hiding behind the curtains? And why is your bear at your spot?"
"You know how no one remembers me?" Matthew whispered, looking around the room quickly to ensure no one saw them.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I decided to do a little experiment. Don't tell anyone, I'm going to see how long it takes them to realize it's not me over there. Okay?" Gilbert gave Matthew a sideways look, but eventually shrugged.
"Okay, Birdie. This'll be entertaining." Then, Gilbert smiled and walked back over to the table, pulling the curtains shut behind him. Matthew sighed. He could always count on Gilbert to go along with his weird schemes. Just then, the sound of someone standing up from their chair could be heard.
"Alright, everyone. The meeting is starting. Everyone take your seats, and we can begin." People sat down in their chairs, and Matthew perched on the windowsill, leaning his head back against the window and peeking out from behind the curtains. Germany cleared his throat and messed with his papers one more time.
"First order of business."
The meeting went off without a hitch. England and France fought, Italy yelled about pasta, and America referred to himself as the hero, but those were the usual things. Matthew was only spoken to once, and it was a rhetorical question, so he didn't even need to answer. It took a little longer than normal to calm England and France down, so Matthew had nodded off by the time Germany called the meeting to a close.
"Alright. We didn't get much done today... big surprise... so we'll have to meet again next week. Any questions?" Silence filled the room as everyone racked their brains for any questions they might have. Eventually though, a hand was raised.
"Yes, Ukraine?"
"Well..." Ukraine said, putting her hand down. "I was just wondering why Mr. Canada's bear is siting at his spot, and why no one's said anything about it?" Germany frowned.
"What?"
"His bear. It's wearing his tie and glasses and has some string taped to his fur." The entire room turned to Canada's spot, just in time to see Kumajiro bite the top off of a pen and get ink all over himself.
"What the bloody-?! When did this happen?" England asked, going over to Kumajiro and lifting him out of the chair. He removed the glasses, tie, and string, and placed him on the floor. As soon an Kumajiro's feet touched the floor, he raced over to the curtains Canada was asleep behind and jumped up on the windowsill.
"Well, let's just see what's behind curtain number one, hm?" Gilbert said, wandering over to the window. "And just for the record, I knew this happened the whole time." He turned to the room and, with a flourish, pulled the curtain back to reveal Canada curled up asleep on the windowsill, and Kumajiro curled up next to him.
"When did he get there? Can I do that?" Italy asked, skipping over to the window.
"No, Italy. You cannot. Gilbert, Why is Matthew asleep on the windowsill?" Germany asked, following Italy over.
"Well, I don't know why he fell asleep, but he's back here because he wanted to see if anyone would notice that it was his bear in his spot instead of him. And only Ukraine and myself noticed. Congratulations everyone, your attention spans are shit." Gilbert grabbed Matthew's glasses and tie and went to wake him up.
"Birdie... wake up, the meeting's over."
"Nnng... ahh... oh, what time is it?" Matthew muttered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Gilbert handed him his tie and glasses. He took them, and put his glasses on, jumping slightly when he realized everyone was looking at him.
"Hello..."
"Hello, Matthew. Have a nice nap?" England asked sarcastically, folding his arms.
"Not particularly... this windowsill is cold."
"Well, that's just too bad, isn't it? Matthew, you can't just sleep through a meeting and replace yourself with a bear. That's childish behavior, and-"
"Iggy... let up a little. It's our faults, too." Alfred said, walking up next to England and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Quit calling me Iggy."
"Nope. And really. If we didn't ignore Mattie so much, he never would have thought of this. Am I right, Mattie?" Matthew nodded his head silently, grateful that his brother was on his side.
"Right! Besides. Even if he had thought of it, it never would have worked if we payed the slightest bit of attention to him."
"If it makes anyone feel better, I won't do it again." Matthew said quietly, putting his tie back on. England and Germany looked at each other and sighed.
"No, it's our fault for not remembering to pay attention to you." Germany said.
"Right. Just don't do it again!" England insisted, flicking Matthew's forehead.
"I won't. As long as you don't forget me anymore."
Needless to say, after that, the rest of the world payed much more attention to Matthew.