OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK THIS LONG.

I had the draft done yesterday, but then I spent the night at my cousin's house and didn't get to start editing it until about an hour ago.

Please don't hate me!

Yeah, so I'm really not that proud of this chapter. There were a lot of ways I could have taken it, and I'm not too fond of the way I did, but it's a better way to set up the later chapters (WHICH PROBABLY WON'T TAKE AS LONG).

Hope you enjoy, and I'll attempt to have the next chapter up by Monday.

The girl that America had responded to stared at him for a second, before shaking her head and answering, "Oh, it's sort of an inside joke between us. When we were younger, we used to watch this anime show called Hetalia, which was all about the human personifications of countries. It's a pretty awesome show."

"Really?" America was a human personification of a country. He'd heard the one called "America" tease the one called "England" about her bad cooking, which was certainly something that was true in real life. The hero needed to investigate further.

"Can I see an episode?"

"Sure! I'm Olivia, by the way. These guys are my friends: Hannah, Grace, Taylor, Kaylee, and Megan." She gestured to each of her friends in turn as she said their names. Then she walked over to a picnic table not too far from them, where a laptop was set up. She typed Hetalia Axis Powers Episode 1 into the search box, and clicked on the first video available.

"You're going to love it," she said, grinning at him. He smiled back, not really sure of what to think.

The video started, on what appeared to be his face. That was confirmed by the way he talked and the text above his head that read America. The America on the screen started talking about global warming and human enslavement a then genetically engineering a hero to protect the earth while the faces of other countries flashed on the screen. It was really strange; he could tell who everyone was before reading the text next to them. They all looked really close to how they did in real life.

Then Switzerland threatened to beat Japan with his peace prize, and England, as usual, voiced his doubts about America's plan.

Eventually it ended up like the real World Conferences did, loud arguing and fighting, with a lot of side conversations. America was starting to get a headache from it all when, finally, Germany intervened and took charge, setting down strict rules, and calling on Italy for a speech, who just shouted the word pasta, and then it cut to the intro. Olivia paused the video and turned to America, obviously wondering what his opinion of the video so far was.

"So, what did you think?"

What did he think? Well, it was definitely crazy, that was for sure. All of the characters that he'd seen so far were a lot like their real counterparts. And they looked like them, too. He was surprised that the girls hadn't recognized him from the video. But, he thought, it's pretty unbelievable to think that a person in an animated TV show you used to watch is real.

The most important thought in his mind right now washow.

How in the world did someone get that much information about all the countries-enough to put in a television show? Could it have been one of the countries themselves? Japan?

He pushed those questions to the back of his mind-they weren't important right now.

If he ignored the fact that he was watching himself and people he knew being portrayed as anime characters, the show was pretty funny. He could see why the girls liked it so much.

"I think it's pretty cool," he said, trying to keep any betraying emotions out of his face. "What's it about, besides the human personifications of countries?"

"Well, it focuses mostly on the Axis Powers, you know, Germany, Italy, and Japan," said the girl named Taylor. She had bushy brown hair and brown eyes. "Later in the series, there is a heavier focus on both the Axis and the Allies. The first few episodes center more around Germany and Italy, though. Some people ship them together."

"Ship them together? What does that mean?"

Taylor laughed. "It means they want the pair of them to be in a romantic relationship."

America stopped short. People wanted Germany and Italy to be in a romantic relationship? He was so going to tease them about that!

"Are there any other ships?"

"Yeah, but most of them are made up by fans, because there really aren't a lot of romantic relationships on the show," said the tallest one, Kaylee. "My favorite was Prussia and Hungary."

"Oh come on, Kaylee, you know PruAus is much better!"

"No it's not, Taylor!"

America cleared his throat loud enough to be heard by the girls. "Is anybody ever shipped with America?"

Olivia laughed. "Definitely. One of the most popular ships out there is USUK."

"Wait, you mean, like America and England?" He was baffled. People actually saw him as being in a relationship with England? He could not think of anything he'd ever heard that was more ridiculous than that. Well, maybe the fact that there was an anime show about he and his fellow countries. That was pretty ridiculous.

"Yeah, but, personally, I don't like it," said Megan. "I mean, it explains in the anime later that England practically raised America, so I feel that their relationship would be more brotherly, if, of course, England got over his massive grudge against America for the Revolutionary War."

"England can hold a grudge for a long time," Olivia said, smiling. "I should know, I'm the one who's most like him."

"How do you figure out who you're most like, anyway?"

"Well, I took a quiz. I've actually gotten several characters on different quizzes, but I've gotten England the most."

"Can I try one?" he asked. He was curious as to who the computer would say he was.

"Of course!" Olivia pulled the laptop over to herself, and when she pushed it back over to America, there was a quiz, with What Hetalia Character Are You? written at the top. He sat down on the picnic bench, realizing he'd been standing the whole time, and began choosing the answers that best fit him.

It was no surprise that he got America when he was done. He smirked to himself as the others looked at his results.

"America, huh?" Olivia said. "That's cool. You're just like Kaylee."

Kaylee elbowed Olivia in the shoulder. "Hey, I thought we cleared this up ages ago! I'm not America, I'm Hungary!"

"Whatever, Kaylee."

"So, what did the rest of you get?" America wanted to see if their results were accurate, based on what he knew.

"I'm Germany, but that was self-proclaimed," said Taylor. "I've never actually taken the test. I also nicknamed Grace Italy, but that fits pretty well on its own." Everyone else in the group was nodding.

Taylor continued, saying, "Olivia is England, which, if you hang around her and know her for a while, is a perfect fit. She might not look like an England, but she's got a very sarcastic side, and she loves to be right."

"That's because I am always right!" Olivia protested.

"Whatever. Hannah's Russia, which, at least back in the eighth grade, was a pretty good fit. Maybe not perfect, but good. Megan is Switzerland, but that's partially because she has gotten pretty much every country you can get on the quizzes. She decided to be neutral, and be Switzy."

"Don't call me Switzy!"

"I can call you Switzy if I want to. Finally, Kaylee got America, although she refuses to admit it."

"That's because I only took one quiz, and I was happy with being America!"

"Until you decided to become Hungary."

America watched the two girls continue to bicker, while he thought about everything he'd learned about Hetalia so far. He'd already decided that he would hang out with these girls again sometime, and for now just leave them with his human name. But then Olivia spoke once more.

"Oh wait! You don't know about the nation's human names!" Olivia looked really excited to reveal this bit of information.

"What are those?" America felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was pretty sure he already knew.

"Well, in Hetalia fanfiction," said Olivia, "sometimes the author of the fanfiction doesn't want to use the name of the country, but instead a real, human name. The human names were picked based on what would be a normal, common name from their country. For example, America's human name is Alfred F. Jones, and England's is Arthur Kirkland."

America mentally cussed. These girls knew his human name, so he couldn't use it! They were bound to ask for it sooner or later, and he couldn't exactly tell them that he was America, could he? Well, he could, but he didn't think that was the best idea, at least not yet, when he was still getting to know them. If he told them today, who knew what they would do? Would they even believe him?

He was snapped out of his train of thought by Kaylee, who asked, "So, do you want to finish this episode?"

"Yeah, and maybe we can watch a few more of them." He wanted to know exactly what he was dealing with.

Olivia started the video again. America kicked back and watched more episodes of Hetalia. His original assumption, that it was funny, was most certainly true. He found himself laughing along with the girls more than a few times. The show also said a lot about WWII, and the ongoing fight between the Allies and the Axis.

Some parts were especially funny, like when England was trying to summon a demon, and Russia, of all people, showed up. He laughed even harder in the episode with Busby's Chair. He almost said, "I remember that!" but stopped himself just in time. He still made a small noise, at which Olivia looked over at him, but he just waved her off.

That was close, he thought.

It was weird how much of the things that happened in the episodes actually did happen. America knew that almost all of the parts with him in it did. He also noticed how there were several events from his own history left out, but he thought that the writers may have wanted to focus on more of a world view. That was okay with him. It was embarrassing to watch himself on the screen, even though it wasn't really him.

They didn't realize how many episodes they'd watched until the sun was almost set and the fog was almost completely gone. America looked at the watch he was wearing. It read 7:32.

Wow, he hadn't realized it was that late. How long had they been here, watching the videos? Apparently, no one else had noticed it was so late, because Megan asked, "What time is it?"

"About 7:30."

"Whoa!" Olivia shot up from her seat, looking flustered. "It's really that late?"

"Yep."

"Where did all that time go?" Taylor mused.

"Hey, I just realized we never got yourname," Kaylee said. "What is it?"

America had known this would be coming. After all, when you show a stranger several episodes of your favorite TV show, you're going to want to know his name, right? But he still failed to prepare a good name, so now he had to come up with one on the spot.

"My name's…..John Smith." As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Really, America? John Smith? The best name you can come up with is John Smith?

"Oh, like that explorer guy from Pocahontas," Grace said. "Cool."

"Hey, can you put your number into my phone?" asked Olivia. "You're a pretty cool guy, John Smith."

"Ha, sure." He took her phone and put in his number.

"Can you put it into mine, too?"

"And mine?"

Before he knew it, America had the phone numbers of all six girls in his phone, and his number was in theirs. The fog was pretty much gone now. It was starting to get cold outside.

"Well, I have to go," Hannah said, packing up her computer. "I had a really good time!"

"So did I, but I promised my parents I would pick up some milk on the way home, and the stores close at eight." Kaylee left, too.

"Grace and I have to get going, too. We're driving over to Walnut Grove in the morning to see some Laura Ingalls Wilder stuff," said Taylor.

Finally, the only people left were Megan, Olivia, and America.

"I'm going to the car, Olivia, hurry up." Megan left as well.

The silence hung suspended in the air for a minute as the two of them looked anywhere but at each other. Finally, Olivia broke the silence.

"You know, it was really nice meeting you, John," Olivia said, looking up at him. Their eyes met in the darkening twilight.

"You too," he said, grinning back at her. "Maybe I'll see you later?"

"Okay! Bye, John! Call me sometime!" Then she walked away, and America watched her until he couldn't see her anymore. He turned around and walked toward his car, thankful that the fog was gone. He got in, turned it on, and drove back to the inn to book another night.

He had a lot more to do here in Duluth, and a very important phone call to make.

Who's he gonna call?

(GHOSTBUSTERS!)

Actually, no, that's not who he's going to call at all.

So, I will try to have the next chapter up by the end of tomorrow, but I'm pretty busy for most of the day, so no promises.

Have a good weekend!