The Rare Pair Files (Hetalia)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: Since there are a lot of rare pair that are, well, rare, I decided to dedicate a little side collection of all the ones I write from here on out, however often I end up doing so. Mostly America or Canada centric pairings.

Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine.

Warning: AmeBelg, canonverse

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Ah, world bonding exercises. The ongoing attempts to get Nations to interact with each other outside of meetings so that hopefully they'd at the least become agreeable enough to get along and stop starting wars and sinking economies with their constant infighting.

Of course it hadn't quite worked out so far, but Ludwig still held hope. Somehow.

...maybe it was just desperation at this point, who could say.

Alfred kicked back in his seat, figuring that whatever was coming couldn't be as bad as the last few. Really, why had anyone thought a group pottery class would end in anything other than tears and screaming, especially when Romania and Hungary had been seated right next to each other due to some oversight somewhere?

(At least he'd been lucky to end up with Lovino that time around - their matching set of coffee cups, though lopsided just a tad, had come out beautifully compared to the mess of the next batch when someone had forgotten to poke holes in their creations. He hoped the poor couple running the place were okay; he'd even helped Ludwig pay for the damages afterwards!)

Speaking of the German Nation, he was finally coughing to get their attention, eyebrow twitching when a few Nations kept blabbing away regardless.

"Hey, guys," Alfred called out, gesturing deliberately to the man at the podium when they turned to glare at him. "Do you want to pissh im off again today?"

Ludwig exhaled sharply, nodding in thanks before beginning. "On suggestion from several Nations, it has been decided that this meeting's exercise will be a cooking contest. Your partners will be randomly assigned as always, and the ingredients and time available to you will be given after we arrived and have prepared appropriately."

The American raised an eyebrow as whispers drifted around the room - trusting some of these people with sharp objects and hot surfaces? Were they sure this was a smart idea?

(He prayed he wasn't with Arthur, if only because if this ended up requiring more cooking than baking, he'd have to scramble a lot to deal with the chaos from that.)

"The judges for this contest will be myself, England, China, and Mexico. Winning or losing isn't important here - only cooperation between teammates, regardless of what issues they might otherwise have."

Like that would happen, but best not to say that out loud. Maybe he'd get lucky and team up with Kiku or Toris? Getting Mattie was asking for a bit much, but any of them would make this a breeze, honestly.

Alfred's thoughts drifted briefly, only half listening for his name as he glanced around ,seeing many of the pleased or horrified or resigned expressions that came about as people were paired off for this exercise in futility. He seriously felt bad for Ivan and Antonio being teamed up, because as far as he was aware they had almost no tastes in common.

Then it was his turn. "America and Belgium."

Not bad, but not great, considering he… really hadn't ever spoken with her. He glanced over, seeing her own frown and frowning in reply. She probably thought he only cooked burgers or something - or perhaps that he couldn't cook at all. Hopefully he'd be able to dispel that misconception fast once they met up.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Anri raised an eyebrow, watching the way her partner threw ingredients together almost haphazardly. "What if you get something wrong?"

"Well that's what taste testing is for, duh," The American replied, doing just that with his current concoction before frowning lightly. "Needs a little more salt."

"I'm just saying, if this is anything like Arthur does…"

"What makes you think he had time to teach me?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "Besides, it was a woman's job when I was under his thumb, so I only ended up learning after he got the boot and I had to look after myself 'cause Ginny was busy dealing with her state duties and stuff suddenly."

"...oh," She flushed, not really having thought about that aspect of things. "Fair enough."

"Besides, I wouldn't be representing all my people fairly if I couldn't learn to cook as many of their dishes as I could, right?" He went on, throwing in another of the oddball ingredients the groups had been allotted for their trial. "It's sorta given me a good idea of what goes well together and what doesn't, though it's really a matter of taste in the end…"

Despite herself she laughed, feeling more relieved now. "That it is; I wish half the others understood that instead of just automatically claiming theirs is the best, end of story."

"You're joking, right?" The American's lips twitched up into a grin. "The best part of all that is telling each of them you like their food best and always getting free food out of it, cause it's not like they'll ever let it slip. Even works in getting Arthur to bake edible shit, if you can believe that."

She bit her lip thoughtfully. "I suppose if anything did it, that'd be it. Still, you don't have to live with them all the time."

"True, thank God for that."

(Though they didn't win, they figured there was no harm in trading recipes afterwards, nor in just hanging out and chatting. If their brothers raised eyebrows, well, it wasn't that big a deal.)

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AN: Something I've been saving for a while for reasons, and I think it came out nicely, though I probably could have expanded on things. As for what they made, I have no idea, so use your imagination.