A/N: This was originally posted over on LJ last year, and since I now have a FFnet account I'm re-posting it here.
Why do I bother coming to these meetings? Canada thought as he stepped out of America's back door and on to the deck. It was the lunch break for today's meetings, and this morning he had gone unnoticed by everyone as usual. They pay more attention to Sealand, for Christ's sake, and no one even considers him to be a proper nation!
"Hey, Canada!" He heard someone yelling from below where he was standing. He looked down and saw New Zealand waving at him from the field behind America's house. He also saw England and Australia stretching like they were about to play some sport. "Come play some two-on-two rugby with us!"
"M-me?" Canada said. "You want to team up with me?"
"Two on one's hardly fair, is it?" New Zealand said. "Get your butt down here!"
Canada came down the stairs leading to the field, and saw America standing there holding the ball. Is he the referee, or is this some kind of joke?He hated to think he'd been invited to play as a joke, but his worries were eased when America blew a whistle that was hanging around his neck.
"Come on, Matt, you're holding up the game!" America said. Canada took his place on the field next to New Zealand, and felt a little nervous. It may only be a lunch break game between meetings, but Australia and New Zealand live and breathe rugby, and England plays regularly as well. Canada wasn't a major rugby nation like them! America blew the whistle again, and the game began. New Zealand kicked the ball to start the game, and Australia caught it. He ran down the field, and New Zealand went to tackle him, but missed.
Australia kept running for the try line behind Canada, and England was running alongside him in case Australia needed to pass the ball. Canada ran at him to try to tackle him. Am I crazy for trying?Australia looked to be much stronger than him, but he had to protect the try line. He saw New Zealand chasing Australia out of the corner of his eye, and went for the tackle. As he dove to try to hit Australia, Australia twisted away from him, and pushed down on Canada's head with his free hand. Canada fell flat on his face, and Australia dove over the line for an easy try. America blew the whistle, and awarded the try.
"5-nil to Australia and England!" America said.
"Up you get!" New Zealand helped Canada up, and they jogged back to the middle of the field.
"Sorry about that," Canada said, and wiped the mud off of his glasses with his shirt.
"For what?" New Zealand said. "We both tried to tackle him, and we both missed. We've just got to try harder!"
America blew the whistle, and this time Australia kicked the ball. New Zealand caught it, and ran down the field. Canada ran a little bit behind him in case New Zealand needed to pass the ball. Australia ran up to tackle New Zealand, and New Zealand passed the ball to him just before he got tackled. Canada caught the ball, and kept running. He ran right past England (Australia and New Zealand were only just getting up from the tackle), and England didn't even try to tackle him. It was as though England didn't see him at all until Canada dove over the try line. America blew the whistle again, and awarded the try.
"5 points to New Zealand and Canada." America said. "The score is now 5-all!"
"What the fuck just happened?" England said. "When did Canada get that far up the bloody field with the ball?"
"That's five-all now," Canada said as he jogged back to the middle of the field, and New Zealand gave him a high-five. Canada hadn't expected to get to the try line, and he thought England would've tackled him for sure!
"That was awesome, Canada!" New Zealand said. "I knew I was right to pick you!"
Canada grinned. He hadn't been chosen for a joke, or just to make up for the numbers, or because America wasn't playing. He'd been chosen for his skills!
"Are you going blind, England?" New Zealand said. "Canada ran right past you!"
"You picked him because you knew that Canada can go invisible!" England said. "That's fucking cheating!"
"Hey," Australia laid a hand on England's right shoulder. "That's enough of that."
"Canada going invisible is exactly like you and swearing. He can't prevent it any more than you can prevent throwing swear words into most sentences!" New Zealand said, and turned to Canada. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay." Canada smiled. Listening to New Zealand give England shit just added to the fun of the game, and he saw America look at his watch for a moment. "No offence taken."
"We've only got about five minutes of lunch break left for the game." America said. "That'll give you enough time to clean up and get back to the meeting. Matt, grab something out of my closet after the game and return it when you can."
Canada looked down and saw his suit was covered in mud and grass stains. He'd forgotten completely that he was still wearing it. England, Australia and New Zealand were all wearing shorts and T-shirts.
"Sorry about the clothes," New Zealand said. "I should've told you about the game in advance."
"It's okay," Canada shrugged. "This sort of thing happens all the time."
"No, I'm really sorry about this." New Zealand looked him in the eyes. "I should've told you this morning before the meeting, and maybe something could've been arranged."
"It really is all right." Canada said, and it really was okay. He was happy just to be chosen for the game. America blew the whistle for the kick-off. New Zealand kicked the ball, and England caught it this time. He and Australia ran up the field towards Canada and New Zealand. New Zealand dove to tackle England, and England passed the ball to Australia. Canada ran between them, and grabbed the ball out of mid-air.
"Nice intercept!" New Zealand said as he watched his teammate run down the field towards Australia and England's try line. "Keep running, Canada!"
Canada looked over his shoulder for a moment as he ran, and Australia was quickly gaining on him. England seemed to have fallen behind somehow, and New Zealand was also running up to give Canada some support. Canada looked over his shoulder again, and saw Australia was diving for a tackle. New Zealand had appeared to his right, and Canada passed the ball to him just before Australia managed to knock his legs out from under him. New Zealand caught the ball and dove over the try line, and America blew the whistle as soon as New Zealand and the ball hit the grass. America then looked at his watch, and blew the whistle again.
"Full time!" America said. "10-5 to New Zealand and Canada!"
"Great game," Canada helped New Zealand up.
"That wasn't just a great game," New Zealand said. "That was an awesome game!"
Suddenly Canada heard another kind of noise, and looked up at the deck to see the other nations clapping. He wasn't aware they even had an audience until then as he was so focused on the game. He had wondered why America was announcing the score after every try, but figured it was just his brother's way of keeping track of the score.
"Great game," Australia said. "I didn't know you could play like that, Canada!"
"Yeah, great game!" England said. "See you all inside."
"Come on!" New Zealand grabbed his hand. "I think you've gained some fans today."
They climbed up the stairs back to the house followed by America, and some of the other nations came up to congratulate him and New Zealand on their win. Suddenly it didn't matter that he was covered in mud and his suit really needed dry-cleaning. It didn't matter that he went unnoticed the majority of the time. If going invisible meant that he could enjoy moments like this, then that wasn't so bad.