Alfred was lying on the left side of his bed with his laptop. The device was causing his USA blanket to be unnaturally hot, warming Ohio and Pennsylvania.

"What are you doing, git?" Arthur was tired of reading his book on one of Alfred's many chairs as he continued to be ignored by the American. Alfred looked up, causing his glasses to slide carelessly to the edge of his nose. He fixed the position of his glasses (which he decided to name Texas for his love of America) as he replied.

"Watchin' YouTube."

"Wha! And here I thought you were doing homework and decided to leave you be while I died of boredom! At least let me have a look!"

"Dude, I never said you couldn't. Jeez, stop nagging me. We sound like a married couple!"

Arthur blushed at the suggestion but plopped onto the right side of the bed, shoving the rest of America over his body. He quite enjoyed Alfred's blanket. He had even took the time to draw a "You Are Here" dot near their location in Florida which Alfred had proceeded to fuss over, saying that he had "ruined his blanket". Arthur paused as he glanced over the page Alfred had been looking at. He had typed in "what the british think of americans" in the search box and had been looking at the results for his search when Arthur jumped onto the bed.

'He must really want my approval of himself...' Arthur thought. It sort of excited him to know that Alfred really wasn't as confident as he let himself look. Either that or he was just really curious but the former was more fun to imagine.

In reality, Alfred just loved his country so much that he couldn't bear to know that anyone hated it. Not only that, but if someone hated Americans, it was kinda like they hated him. He shivered at the thought.

"Oh, I was just looking. Um... I think I know a few funny videos if you want to watch those." Alfred moved his hand over the keyboard, ready to type something else into the search box when Arthur snatched his hand away. "No, go ahead. Don't mind me." Arthur had to admit, he was curious as to what his fellow citizens had posted about this topic.

Alfred looked back to the screen and immediately saw a video titled "Why the British Hate Americans". He stared back at the laptop frozen. Arthur looked over to Alfred and tried to type in something else on his keyboard. This was the worst thing that could have happened! Before Arthur could even press the 'F' key, Alfred clicked the video and waited for it to load.

"W-why don't we watch something else? You mentioned you knew of some funny videos didn't you?" Arthur asked desperately.

"No. This looks interesting." Arthur cringed at Alfred's monotone voice. The lack of emotion made his heart shrivel.

The video loaded just as Arthur was about to protest but Alfred cut him off, clicking the play button and letting the video start. The beginning was nice, the American flag with the national anthem and then the Union Jack with the British national anthem. Arthur recognized the familiar tune right away. Then the film started to show its bad side. It mentioned how America should still be under the British rule and how most Americans are fat idiots. It even did something as stupid as comparing Fox News, an American news channel, to BBC. It showed a rude picture of a stereotyped American and then went on to say that Americans butchered the English language. The video ended with the Union Jack once again on the screen with the sentence "England is the best".

Silence flooded the room shared by the two boys. It was dripping from the atmosphere and grew denser near Alfred's private bubble. His face, covered by his bangs and drooping hair curl (which he later found out was called Nantucket), continued to stare at the screen. It was impossible to see any emotion on the American's face.

"Al-"

Alfred's lip began to tremble. He turned to the Brit who now noticed every tear trickling down the American's face. Arthur's heart fell limp at the sight.

"HOW COULD YOU? Do you really hate us? Hate me? I n-never would have thought!" Alfred couldn't help but cry. The video was the most prejudice, rude, and stereotypical thing he had ever seen.

"N-no Alfred...I-"

"Look at the recommended videos!"

Alfred gestured to the side of the page where similar videos could be found. To Arthur's horror and Alfred's sadness, they saw multiple videos titled things like "America sucks lol" "Stupid Things Americans Say" "Idiot Americans in London" and more. Oh, so much more. Alfred scrolled down the page, his cries getting louder. He was literally sobbing. He cuddled into his blanket, letting America's warmth soothe him.

Alfred shut his laptop closed and ran out of his own room. Stumbling, he managed to get all the way down the stairs and through the back of the house into the backyard. The American continued to run even further, through trees, grass, and fallen sticks until he finally found what he was looking for.

The River. The place he came to when depressed about the divorce or his dad...the sacred place he had let Arthur see. Drooping to his knees, Alfred leaned over the stream and wished he could take it back. He wished he had never let the Brit come to this place and that his mom had never signed up for this whole thing. Alfred's reflection greeted him with tears mirroring his own. He knew it was stupid, but the river made him feel like someone was crying with him, for him. Even if it was just his reflection, at least there was someone in the world that cared about him.

"W-why..." The question was so quiet, he was sure only he could hear it. But there was no one else here anyways so it's not like it mattered whether he spoke up or not. Little did he know that someone actually did.

Great splashing noises erupted from the water in front of him as a whale appeared in the river. It quickly swam over to Alfred and nudged his shoulder, a gesture only true friends could do. Alfred let his sadness take over him. He sloppily flopped onto the whale's back and let it carry him in the water, the motions of the small ripples and waves caressing his sorrows.

"Thank you, Whaley. You're my best friend." The sentence was sad yet true. Gilbert was as good a person as anybody but not as caring as Whaley.

The pair had been resting in the river, Alfred's tears beginning to slow to a stop, when Arthur jumped out of the forest of trees hiding the water from view. Alfred's head was turned to the side, not even noticing the intruder.

"Alfred,"

The American stiffened, refusing to turn his head and look at the Brit. "Go away."

"No, Alfred. I won't. I don't hate you. I don't hate your friends, your family, not even the people we've passed by on the street! If I hated Americans, why would I have chosen to be a foreign exchange student here?"

"I don't know. Maybe you wanted a good laugh or something to tell your British buddies back home. I don't give a damn."

Alfred wasn't much of a person who enjoyed cussing, so it was clear to Arthur that the situation was more serious than he originally thought.

"A-Alfred, please, believe me..."

"I'm tired. Could you let me sleep on my whale in peace?"

Arthur was growing frustrated with Alfred's refusal to speak to him face-to-face. He trudged through the water and grabbed Alfred, pulling him off the whale's back and back to dry land. The American gasped at the periodic lack of oxygen while being dragged through the streaming liquid.

"I will not let you sleep until we solve this!"

Alfred's face was turned to face Arthur's. What Alfred saw frightened him. The look of anger and frustration on the once friendly face had consumed his entire being. Everything Alfred had just been thinking vanished as he looked at Arthur. Alfred's eyes grew wide and he lay frozen in Arthur's grasp. The Brit couldn't help but notice the deep fight in his eyes and he placed the American upright in hopes of calming him down.

"Y-you're...angry at me." Arthur wished there was some sort of bag around he could hand to Alfred to help him breath. It looked like he was going to faint any minute. Arthur's expression changed to one of worry which caused the American to visibly relax some.

"What's wrong?"

Alfred hesitated. "...I can't handle anger. It scares me. The look on your face...when you were frustrated with me...I couldn't take it."

Arthur sat on the grass, feeling like he was just told a well-kept secret. Something Alfred tried not to tell anyone. "Have you told anyone?"

"A-a few people. Most don't understand. I don't go blurting it out to everyone though. I try to keep it inside whenever someone gets angry in public but it's hard. Haha!" Alfred's laugh sounded stressed and fake.

"...I'm sorry."

Arms were wrapped around Alfred's body as he was pulled into the Brit. Alfred blushed all over but silently brought his hands to the arm in front of him in a sort of half-hug. Being that the two were sitting at each other's side, the hug hadn't been tight or perfect...but loose side-hugs were the best.

They sat like that for a few seconds, letting each other relax into the other's warmth and sweet touch. It even brought a small smile to the American's face.

"I'm glad...that you don't hate me," he whispered.

Arthur leaned in as close as he could to his American friend.

"Never in a million years would I dream of hating you, Alfred."

Apparently I am not allowed to express my feelings through my writing. I took out all of my author's notes for this chapter. Thanks.