Oh Maple Leaves (APH Canada x Clumsy!Reader)

Chapter 1

As the chill autumn air nipped at your nose and fingers, you shoved your hands into your hoodie pockets and felt the comforting shapes of your phone and headphones. You looked up through the familiar tree branches musing about the day's events, the rays of sun filtering through the changing leaves into your eyes as your feet instinctively kept on the dirt path that led through the woods to your home. Today had been a pretty good day, overall, and while you felt at ease, the sounds of just the wind and bird calls wasn't quite setting the right mood. You go to take out your headphones and phone from the pocket, not knowing that they had inevitably become entangled with one another, and caused both to fall to the ground. "Shit, shit, shit," you cursed aloud, reaching down to retrieve your fallen comrade. 'Ohhh, please don't be broken, please don't be broken,' You chanted in your head, slowly turning the phone to face you. With a sigh of relief you see the screen is still in one piece, and swiping up the tangled mess of your headphones, you stand back up. 'God, I really need to get air pods or something,' you think to yourself, working wires back to a single cable instead of a garbled mess. Sticking them in and turning up the volume you finally continue your walk home in the comfort of music.

Walking along to the beat, head down, earbuds in, you hadn't noticed the person walking towards you. Lost in the music, you step to the side accidentally crashing into the other person. Stumbling back from your failed dance move and losing your balance, you fall to the ground with a hard thud. In a confused, apologizing mess you scrambled to get to your feet to try and help the other person. However, the other person was already on their feet, and you were still on your hands and knees, 'Maybe they didn't fall down?,' finding instead a hand being offered to you.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you. Do you need a hand?" a soft voice questioned.

"Nonono, I-I'm fine, I just, I'm sorry," you stuttered, wobbly rising to your feet. Regaining your balance and focus, your eyes settle on the person you had just, at the very least, rammed into if not taken down to the ground with you. He was tall, blonde, and looked to be about college aged. And, his eyes seemed to shift in the fading afternoon light, seeming almost...violet. 'Oh no, he's hot!!' "Oh no, i-it's my fault. I had my headphones in and I wasn't looking where I was going an-,"

He chuckled at your hasty explanation. It sounded gentle, comforting almost, like he wasn't at all upset at you careening into literally the only other person on this path. But you couldn't accept his apology, it had obviously been more your fault than his.

"It's alright, are you okay though? I definitely didn't mean for you to fall down. I am so sorry about that," he apologized, again.

'Wait. What?' You stood there in shocked silence, mouth gaping open like a salmon swimming upstream in summer, finally comprehending that it had only been you to fall down. Words seemed to escape you as you tried desperately to not crumple under the weight of embarrassment. You had never been that great at talking to other people in the first place, especially in awkward situations, and this one seemed to only get more awkward as your mind spiraled through every little detail of it. 'You. fell. down. You. Fell. Down. Only you. ONLY YOU FELL DOWN. Oh [y/n}, why, why do you HAVE to be such a klutz?' "I'm so sorry!" you blurt out, louder than intended, face turning a bright shade of red, and took off running.

"Wait!" the boy called out after you, "Y-you dropped this!" he shouted, your phone held in his raised hand. "Oh dear," he sighed.