Canada sighed. July first. His birthday! Yay! Right? No, not really.
"Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday dear Ca-na-daaa..." his voice trailed off. He turned over on his pillow and squeezed his eyes shut, willing the tears not to come. His birthday hadn't been remembered since 1869, why had he even bothered to think that this one would be any different? He had spent the whole day with the phone at the center of the universe. He had caught himself staring at in on multiple occasions, hoping for someone, ianyone/i to call.
He couldn't help it now, the tears where flowing down his face. How many times had it been today? He had lost count at six. He gripped his pillow even tighter, as if he could will away the loneliness.
He had hoped that at least America would remember (not that he ever did), or Prussia even. That would have been nice. He wanted to see the Prussian again he thought, his train of thought wondering, attempting to distract itself. Well, he'd probably see him at America's birthday party. Three days... He sniffled sadly. Everyone was always at Alfred's birthday. Even England showed up sometimes, only some, but still. Alfred wouldn't even notice if he wasn't there! No one would! He iwas/i invisible in their eyes! The tears where hot and angry now, rolling onto the pillow at an alarming rate. That was it! He would skip America's party! Why not? Alfred wouldn't care! It would be his revenge!
"Happy birthday, toooooooo meeeeeeee..."
oOo
It was 2pm on July fourth, and Canada was contently bored. Hey! No one was forgetting him! Because he wasn't there! He had been awake for roughly eight hours now, and he was running out of things to do.
"Well, lets fix that now!" He walked into the kitchen and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. Placing them on the sparkling white tile counter top,l he stared at them. Let's see, I should start with a tittle.
~List~
A-And now, items! Okay! It's a plan! Here we go!
~List~
1) Feed Kuma
2) Make special cookies
3) Go grocery shopping (Out of flour)
4) Clean house
s5) Go dancing?/s
He looked down at his list and sighed. Number 1and 3 where mandatory, number 2 could wait, number 5 was no fun without Gil, and number 4 just needed to be done. Just a pitiful existence, ibut/i, it was his. At least that was something.
oOo
Cleaning house had taken longer than he had expected. It was now 11:45 at night and Canada was feeling strangely empty. He strolled around his house, glancing down at his watch every few seconds, and sighing as if it where the new breathing. Why did he feel this way?It was supposed to be his greatest triumph! i11:47/i He had done it! Stood up and done something! B-but, what exactly had he done? i11:47/i Thrown a fit and skipped the most important day of his brothers year! That's what! i11:48/i But Alfred deserved it! Didn't he? Canada stopped pacing and leaned against the wall in the living room. i11:49/i Why? Why couldn't they remember him for once? Just for once in his life! He'd give anything... i11:50/i But no, they'd all gone to prepare for America's birthday instead! He was justified! He knew he was! i11:51/i Was he that insignificant? He slid down the wall, sinking until he was sitting with his knees pressed against his face. Didn't anyone care? i11:52/i Eight minutes. He realized with a start that he was crying. The realization only made him cry harder until he was full on sobbing into his knees. i11:53 11:54 11:55 11:56/i "I'm sorry Alfred... I should be there right now, even if you didn't know it." i11:57/i Well, he just hoped that America was having fun, counting down the minutes, just like Matthew was doing. i11:58/i Two minutes i11:59/i One minute... Thirty Seconds... five, four, three, two, one. "Happy birthday brother." he whispered to himself before burying his head back into his arms.
There was a loud bang on his door a , minute later. Matthew looked down at his watch, i12:01/i Who in the world could that be? "Mattie!" the door burst open and a very flustered looking American stumbled in. "Don't worry Mattie! The hero's here! No one will be holding you hostage for much longer! Where are you evildoer! Show yourself!" He swiveled around, looking for any signs of struggle, he wasn't prepared to find a wide-eyed Canadian curled up against the wall staring back at him.
"Mattie, wha-" He ran over and dropped to his knees, hands automatically shooting to his face. "You're crying? And there's no evil!" He rubbed his thumb over Canada's tear streaked cheek. "This is a front, isn't it! Where is he? The bastard! Try and trick me, will he?" Alfred scowled looking around the room frantically for any thing that might be out of place.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" Canada bleated, still frozen in shock.
"Wait, there's no one holding you hostage?"
"N-not last time I checked. Why would you think that?" His voice was barely a whisper.
"You didn't come to my party! And you always come! And I got worried! And! And you crying?"
Canada hurriedly wiped at his face, trying to rub any evidence away. "N-no! I wasn't!"
Concern filled Alfred's features as he pulled Canada's hands away from what they where doing. "Mattie. What's wrong?"
"I-I didn't go to your birthday." Canada looked away from America.
"Is that all?" he perked up immediately. "I just wished you had called first! But I'm sure you had a good reason!"
Matthew started crying again. "No. I really didn't. That's the problem!"
"Mattie, I'm sure it's a good reason, now tell me."
"N-non."
"Mattie." His voice became very stern.
"I-I was being stupid. I thought it'd be a good revenge for forgetting my birthday again. I'm sorry."
America pulled him into a sudden hug. "Oh god. Mattie, your birthday, I totally forgot. I'm not a very good brother, am I?"
Matthew started to protest, "N-No! Your a great brother!"
This was of course, when all the other nations finally caught up to America, who had suddenly screamed something about 'Canada in distress!' and run out of the room.
A slightly out of breath France leaned on the door frame and looked at the two brothers embracing, one covered in his own tears, the other looking ashamed.
"What's going on?"
America released and turned slightly to face the other nations, "H-hey. Honest question here guys, when's Canada's birthday?"
There where a few glances exchanged between them before England said, "July first, right? Oh..."
There was a bit of foot shuffling and embarrassed gazes as people realized it had been three days previously, and it hadn't crossed any of their minds.
America turned back to his brother, "When was the last time we celebrated?"
Canada looked ashamed, embarrassed by all the sudden attention. "erm, 1869." he said in his smallest voice.
Alfred stared at him for a few moments before speaking, his voice cracking halfway through. "You mean to tell me, that we only celebrated your birthday three times, and you haven't said anything until now?"
"Well, it's a little hard to say something when no one sees you. Truthfully, I didn't think you'd notice I wasn't there tonight, eh?"
"Shit Matthew! We've got some partying to do! 140 years to make up for! Lets go!"
He pulled him to his feet and began to lead him out the door into the crowd of people when Matthew's legs collapsed.
"Matty! Are you okay?" Alfred quickly bent down next to his brother.
"I-I'm fine! I just, A-al, can we just stay here tonight? I don't think I can go anywhere."
"Of course, hey, it'll be like a slumber party or something! Just you and me!"
"Hey!" Prussia pushed his way over, "Not cool! What about me? I've missed his birthday for years too you know!"
There where more calls of "Me too!" and "What about me?" until more than half of the world had their minds set on sleeping over a t Canada's.
"I don't think I have enough beds." Canada whispered, looking horrified at the thought of not being able to host all the nations.
"Don't worry Mattie! I know where the blanket closet is! We can all sleep on the floor in here! We'll fit!" With that he promptly ran out of the room to grab armfuls of blankets as nations settled down all over the carpeted floor, everyone coming up to talk to Matthew at some point. "I'm so sorry mon cher!" "I really don't know what to say Canada, this really isn't very gentlemanly of me, forgetting and all that." "Mattieeeeee! I'm sorry! Please say you'll find it in your heart to forgive me and make me pancakes again one day!"
Completely overwhelmed by the attention from every side, he began to laugh. Wow! He'd forgotten how igood/i it felt to be remembered and cared about! How could he have ever forgotten?
oOo
It was only later, his head in Prussia's lap, Alfred's in his own, France curled up on his side, and other nations only branching out from there to create an intricate web on limbs, that he was struck by a thought. "Wh-what if..." he hardly let himself think it, "What if every birthday could be like this?"
If every birthday could be like this, well, let's just leave that one to Canada.
subI'm to lazy to go into details about the sleepover. Maybe someday I will. For now, it's up to your imaginations.
