Remember Me, Notice Me

I Won't Go Today!(Edited, I Hope)

Beep beep beep. Canada groaned as he turned around in his bed and reached over to hit the snooze button on his alarm clock. Canada closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep again.

You have a meeting, remember? The thought went through his mind as he wrapped the blankets around him. Why should I even go? No one ever notices me, and I usually just get sat on by Russia. Canada fought internally with himself, conflicted between going or staying home. What happens if something important comes up, eh? Canada snorted softly, the likelihood of that happening is lower than if he were to be noticed and given a turn during the meeting. He was about to drift off to sleep when something crawled onto his bed and started tugging on his hand. He looked up and saw it was Mr. Kumajiji, his pet polar bear. Kumajiji wasn't the bear's real name, but Canada sometimes couldn't seem to remember his companion's name; coincidentally, Kuma couldn't seem to remember his owner's name either.

"What is it, Mr. Kumacheerio?" Canada asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

Kuma looked at him and said,

"Food, I'm hungry. Pancakes and fish. Who're you?"

Canada sighed, Kuma always asked the same question every time.

"I'm Canada."

"And I'm Kumajirou, let's try to remember each other now, 'kay?"

Canada blinked. This was new, Kuma had never really made an attempt to remember his name, so he had assumed Kuma didn't care, but this wasn't like Kuma at all.

"Mr. Kumajirou?"

Kuma looked up at his owner's face as he heard his name for the first time in a long time.

"Yeah?" he asked, not trusting himself to say his owner's name properly.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah, why?" Kuma questioned.

Canada shook his head, "It's just you've never suggested we remember each other's name before."

Kuma licked Canada's hand and said, "I think we should try to remember each other. No one else ever does."

Kuma had a point, if no one else was going to remember them, they might as well remember each other.

Canada smiled softly, "All right then, after breakfast we'll work on remembering each other's name."

"Sounds good to me," Kuma said as he licked his lips, imagining the taste of fish and pancakes drenched in maple syrup.

Canada giggled at his bear's antics, got up from his bed, changed into his favourite red sweater and into a pair of jeans.

Kuma looked at his companion in confusion; wasn't there a meeting today? His owner wasn't planning on going dressed so informally, right?

"Hey, mister?"

Kuma questioned, burning with curiosity. Canada looked down at his bear.

"Yeah, Kuma? What is it?" he asked quietly, as he walked to the kitchen.

"Isn't there a meeting today?"

Canada froze at the question, he had almost forgotten about that, he was so caught up in Mr. Kumaji-something suggesting they try to remember the other's name. He quickly relaxed as he came to a decision and laughed lightly.

"Oh, I decided I'm not going today, the other nations and countries always forget about me anyway."

Kuma rubbed his ear with his paw as he pondered what he heard. If it were anyone else, he might have just shrugged it off, but this was his owner, who never missed a meeting unless he had a good reason to, saying he was gonna skip! It concerned Kumajirou to no end.