Dressed For Rejection

18

Pancakes appeared in the doorway, meowing. A wave of relief flooded through Canada, and he quickly dashed to his cat.

"Pancakes! I couldn't find you!" The Canadian cried out, obviously trying to make up a reason for running over there. He tried to pick up Pancakes, but she weaved out of his grasp.

Canada gritted his teeth, trying to grab her. The feline ran across the room, and the Canadian quickly followed after her.

After another minute of her annoying persistence, Pancakes finally let Canada pick her up. The Canadian gave her a pat, and turned to his family.

He was definitely surprised at the sight of Australia and New Zealand fighting. Russia wasn't in Canada's sight, which relieved him deeply.

The Canadian quickly put Pancakes down, and casually strolled over to the table. "What happened?" The red and white country inquired, which was quickly followed by several responses from the same 2 mouths.

"Australia won't keep his mouth shu-" New Zealand barked, but got intercepted. "It's important! She told me tha-" Australia spoke up quickly, but had an attempted silencing.

"BE QUIET! I knew I shouldn't tell you things!" New Zealand growled. "But they have to know!" Australia protested, but his sister shot back.

"No they don't!" She yelled, and the Australian crossed his arms. "If you're so defensive but stupid enough to tell me, tell it to the rest of the family and start fighting over it!" He shouted, but quickly got punched.

The Australian recoiled, slapping New Zealand back. Before either of them could throw another punch, Britain intercepted.

"I know both of my children are too smart to fight," The British man stated sternly, glaring at both of them. "What is this all about?"

New Zealand went quiet, and Australia cleared his throat. He then seemed to contemplate it for a second.

The Australian gave a questioning glance to his sister, and she shook her head. "Its nothing." She growled, quickly turning away. "I'm gonna go to the restroom." New Zealand announced, dashing up the steps.

The Canadian tensed, wondering if Russia was roaming the hallways, wondering if New Zealand would see him.

He tried to relax, trying not to seem weird. No one else seemed to notice, though. "How about we just have lunch..? We all can go out somewhere." Canada suggested, obviously desperate to get out of his house.

France, suddenly existing again, jumped into the conversation. "Of course! I know some amazing restaurants we can go to!" She chimed happily.

The Canadian nodded, and Britain shrugged. "I wouldn't mind." New Zealand appeared in the doorway, walking over to France. "Are we going out somewhere?" She asked, and Australia nodded.

"Alright! We're all ready, but I need to go to the bathroom, so you guys can go on without me." Canada spoke loudly and quickly retreated to the stairs.

Australia gave him a curious look, but obliged. Everyone else went along with Australia to one of the cars in the driveway, most likely Frances.

The Canadian went over to Russia's door, knocking on it. It quickly opened, and the Russian stared at him.

Canada stared back at him for a prolonged period of time. Russia was just being ordinary Russia, but something in the Canadian suddenly decided that he was different.

Canada thought he looked different from not so long ago, when they first met.

His heart was beating faster, and a million intrusive thoughts about the slightly taller country filled his head. The Canadian stopped breathing for a few seconds, but quickly regained it when the tragic realization came to him.

"I'm gonna be going out with my family. Don't be too bored without me," Canada nervously laughed, but found himself impulsively hugging the Russian.

He looked away, feeling Russia slowly hug back and respond. "That's fine.. Canada?" The Russian piped up, and the Canadian nervously turned to him. "Yeah?"

The slightly taller country looked into his eyes, and Canada noticed how pretty of a blue they were.

"Are you feverish? You're being weird." Russia spoke, almost immediately putting his hand on the Canadians forehead.

The red and white flagged country stood their awkwardly. "Maybe." He shrugged. "I'll go tell my family, stay there for now." Canada said quickly, backing up slowly from Russia.

He then turned and ran down the stairs, a bit sad to leave Russia. When he arrived at the car all of his family was situated in, he faintly heard Travis Scott blasting and screams of fighting people.

The Canadian sighed. "Dear lord.." He murmured, watching as it began to get physical again. Nobody noticed him standing right outside the window, and the car even began to slowly back up.

Canada just watched, sort of dejected, and soon watched it drive away from his driveway. After a few more minutes of waiting to see if they would return, he got bored and gave up.

The Canadian walked inside, quickly going back to Russia's room. As he thought of Russia when he was walking up the steps, a smile appeared on his face.

He was disappointed about his family forgetting about him, and would probably yell at them later about it, but he was also kind of happy.

It meant that he could stay home and be with Russia. He had no idea where these sudden rushes of feelings came from, especially since he hadn't realized or felt them before.

Canada couldn't help his giddiness when he returned to Russia's room, knocking on the door and smiling when he opened it again.

"My family uh, left without me, so I figured I could hang out with you." He stated, and Russia slowly nodded. "That's fine. You can come in."

The strictly red and white country nodded to the white blue and red one, walking into his room and taking a seat on the floor. Russia sat beside him, loosely holding his phone.

It was silent for a few seconds, before Russia finally broke it with a question. "Do you want to listen to music?"

"Sure." Canada responded, a curious look on his face. The Russian next to him quickly pulled up Spotify, and shuffled his liked playlist.

Almost immediately, an old sounding instrumental played. The slightly taller country quickly grabbed his phone, skipping over it. Canada was a little confused, but just let Russia do his thing.

The song that started playing was Tonight by Phoenix. The Canadian recognized this song, mostly as a song for high school sweethearts.

He glanced up at Russia, and he was awkwardly looking away. This made Canada laugh a little internally.

Russia avoiding his gaze was so cute..