I was able to watch the final of the Women's World Cup between the USA and Japan at my relatives' place, and it truly was a final to remember. As I love working my favorite pairing into any plausible scenario, this aftermath fic is mainly fem!Japan/fem!Greece with some fem!Japan+fem!America friendship and Japan-centric introspection.

We did it.

These three words had begun forming in Japan's mind when Sakaguchi had scored the second penalty kick for their team, but it wasn't until the ball sailed past Solo for the third time that they truly welled up within her, followed by two more words:

We did it. We won.

In the flash of a second, Japan felt herself being assaulted on both sides by ecstatic teammates who gripped her shoulders and slapped her on the back, their words to her drowned out by the roar of the crowd. It was exhilarating and wonderful with every mouthed "Nihon" from her players, her fans in the bleachers, and her people staying up throughout the night on the other side of the world just to cheer her on sending yet another shiver down her spine, but after being hugged and almost smothered by enough sweaty arms to make her head and nose spin, she excused herself from the still-celebrating team and ran up to the bleachers, scanning them for the face of the person she wanted to feel the arms of the most.

She had been searching for barely a minute when she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her waist and heard a voice whisper into her ear, "Am I allowed to greet the World Cup victor like this?"

Normally, Japan would have made at least a mention of how they were in public and how someone else could easily see them, but flushed by the thrill of her team's victory and turning around to see that her girlfriend's cheeks had a matching flush to them, the only thing that mattered to her in this moment was to feel the intense sensations of this moment along with the one she loved.

She wrapped her arms around Greece's neck and pulled her down into a kiss. Greece's immediate response was to part her lips against her own, and Japan let out a happy sigh as she felt Greece run her fingers through her hair as she tilted her chin up for better access. The kiss was charged with the emotions in the air and had a devil-may-care spontaneity to it that made her heart beat even faster against Greece's chest, but at the same time it was slow, sweet and savoring and gave her time to catch her breath as she relaxed into Greece's gentle hold and let the events of today gradually sunk into reality and memory.

A loud whistle from behind them jolted Japan's attention back to where they currently were and she hastily pulled away from Greece, flushing now for an entirely different reason as she caught sight of a familiar white-clad figure.

"You don't waste time with celebrating, I see," America said, removing her fingers from her mouth and giving them a teasing grin. The grin, however, was edged with a tiredness that hadn't shown up on her face before and her eyes had a bit of redness around them.

Japan felt a stab of guilt upon seeing how worn-out America must be underneath her congratulatory smile. She had won and America knew it and was clearly accepting of it, but she could only imagine how her best friend must be feeling after putting her heart and soul into the best game she had played yet, only to fall just short at the end and be faced with the sights of dejected teammates and the victor enjoying an utterly shameless celebratory kiss. She bowed deeply to America and said solemnly, "You played a magnificent game today, America-san."

"Hey, there's no need to bow to me," America protested, holding up one hand. "It's clear that your players were the best today. Congratulations on your well-deserved win," she said, turning her extended arm into a handshake gesture, which Japan returned gratefully.

"You deserve congratulations too," Greece spoke up softly, stepping out from behind Japan to give America's hand a second shake. "Not many people were expecting you to make this far, and I heard that your teammates became the newest heroes of your country after their match with Brazil."

"That's true, and second place's nothing to sneeze at," America said, giving Greece and Japan a bright smile, but she rubbed at her eyes briefly as if reliving her first reaction to her team's loss. "It's just...it would have been nice to win it all, you know?"

Japan bit her lip and was about to respond when America shook the loose hair out of her face and continued, "But that's just what goes through the head of every loser, and I couldn't have lost to a more deserving gal." Her smile became a bit more genuine and energetic as she looked back at Japan and declared, "I'll just have to work even harder to beat you at the next World Cup."

"I will have to work equally hard then to make sure that I will be ready for our rematch," Japan replied, repaying America's smile with one of her own.

America let out a short laugh and pulled Japan into a tight hug, her chin pressed against Japan's shoulder. "Seriously, congratulations on your awesome win. We'll have to take pointers from you to be able to trounce you in four more years." She flicked her finger at a spot on the left of Japan's head as she pulled away from Japan. "That's a very fitting flower you have in your hair, by the way."

"Huh?" Japan said, reaching up to where America had flicked at her hair. Her fingers came into contact with a hair pin that had been crafted with the unmistakeable frilly edges of a yamato nadeshiko's petals and she glanced over at Greece who shifted slightly under her gaze. "...Oh."

America raised an eyebrow at this and commented, "I've got to tell you that if you want some alone time with Greece, you'd better be quick because your teammates will be calling for you to lift up the trophy soon. I've got to find England myself before she decides to try clobbering France again for the semifinal incident." She gave Japan's left shoulder a final clap before disappearing into the crowds.

Another hand gently gripped Japan's shoulder and she turned to look at Greece as the brunette nation said, "I have a feeling that she'll live up to her promise to be ready for the next World Cup match with you."

"I know she will," Japan said, resting one of her hands on Greece's. "She'll be fine."

"And you'll be fine too," Greece added with a soft smile.

Japan nodded, knowing that there were a lot of meanings packed into that little word "fine." It meant the quality of her football playing four years from now, the current range of emotions washing over her, and her gradual recovery from the incident that had motivated her teammates to unfold a heartfelt banner addressed to the rest of the world after every match, all in one. Her hand went up to touch the new flower in her hair as she thought about all of this and said softly to Greece, "I didn't know you brought a Nadeshiko hairpin with you."

"When I heard about your team's nickname, I thought that it would be perfect for you to wear the flower of your team's namesake in your hair. I managed to misplace it until the eve of this match, which is why I wasn't able to give it to you before," Greece explained, brushing a lock of Japan's hair behind her ear with her free hand.

Japan ran her fingers over the intricately carved edges of the hairpin, wondering at how it must have taken Greece a long time to create this perfect replica of her team's symbol so delicately and lovingly. She felt something well up in her throat, threatening to put pressure on her eye ducts, and fought it down with some effort; she wasn't going to cry now, not after she had managed to make it all this way without tearing up. "Thank you so much, Greece-san. I thought about wearing my chrysanthemum or sakura hairpin to this match, but this one is more appropriate than either of them."

"I actually have both of your regular hairpins," Greece said unexpectedly, unzipping her purse and bringing out the familiar yellow and pink flower pins, "and I would say that they're actually highly appropriate for this situation too."

She brushed her fingers through Japan's hair again as she carefully slid the flower pins into place and then tapped on each one of them as she listed their meanings: "The nadeshiko, for humility and grace. The chrysanthemum, for national pride. The sakura, for kindness and beauty. Did I get all of them right?"

"Yes," Japan said, ducking her head as the flush on her cheeks intensified.

Another rustling sound made her look back at Greece curiously in time to see her pull out two more flower pins from her purse, these ones white with black spots. "And laurel, for victory," she added, positioning these two pins just to the sides of Japan's bangs. "I would have put them in your hair regardless of this match's outcome as you would have won a medal either way, but this way..." She stepped back and gave Japan a luminous smile. "...we both know that they stand for gold."

Speechless, Japan ran both hands over her head to feel every bump and detail of her five hairpins. She looked up at Greece, but the only words that came to her lips were a mass of disjointed ones that were further muddled by the growing buzz of the crowd as she sensed her teammates begin regrouping for the trophy ceremony. She had never been good at expressing emotions as intense as these in words and had only recently begun expressing them through actions instead.

She settled for giving Greece's hand a brief squeeze and saying to her in a meaningful whisper, "I hope that we can relax together sometime after the celebrations."

Greece seemed to understand and gave her a kiss on the cheek just before she left. The kiss was quick, but it helped keep Japan a bit grounded even as she ran back to her teammates and felt the buoyant cheers of her people in the stadium and in pubs at home and of numerous other nations' people as the gold medal was placed around her neck.

She closed her eyes, concentrating on the feel of solid metal in her hands and the one feeling shared by all of the otherwise chaotic voices she heard, as she lifted up her arms and the audience and her teammates erupted in volume all around her. Six words formed clearly in her mind, addressed not only to the audience as a whole, but also to the person she knew was watching her with keen green eyes:

Thank you. Thank you so much.

A/N:

I was planning to write something about the final even before Sunday because of the match being between America and Japan, two nations I love to think of as BFFs. (And for the hypothetical interaction between Japan and Greece, of course.) I honestly didn't know who was going to win the final, however, and the result pleasantly surprised the part of me that loves a great underdog victory, even though America is my home country. Japan truly deserved the hard-fought win.

This fic ended up being a little rushed, but I'm happy that I got to at least write something related to this event. I'd still love any and all reviews and constructive criticism, though. :)