Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I'm sorry for the short length of this chapter. The next chapters will be back to usual length.
Welcome to the World
- Chapter Eight -
XX
America was watching the moon through the thin gap in the wall someone had the gall to call a window. Though it was not the real moon, just a virtual one, he was dwelling on sober thoughts about how the real moon was so much more beautiful when he heard a tentative knock on the door.
Must be Canada, he thought. Russia and England would have just barged in and Belarus had since made it clear that she would never go near him unless her beloved brother gave her a direct order.
"Come in," he called without bothering to move from the bed.
To his surprise, it was not the thief but England who poked his head into his barren room. "Hey," he said in greeting.
Surprised, America threw his legs off of the bed and sat up. "Hey, what's up?" he asked, slightly confused. He had been pretty sure that England had hated him after his 'girl' jab. Maybe he had come to strangle him in his sleep.
Opening the door wider, England slid in before softly shutting it behind him.
"Nothing. You just don't look very happy."
After that moment when Canada had explained what this virus was – The moonflower virus, wasn't it? – he had been oddly quiet. He supposed that he was lost in thought – though England would say that he never had any thoughts. He did not know what to do. He did not know what he was supposed to do. Joining these people still gave him misgivings but he also did not want to sit back and do nothing.
America shrugged. It was impossible to think that England; that selfish, bad-tempered, grumpy England was worried about him even the slightest.
"I'm just thinking about home. I bet my mom is freaking! My friends are probably worried sick as well. I'm gonna have to apologize when this is all over. I bet my mom will never let me go on the net again after this."
England blinked twice. "So you won't be coming back?"
"Of course I will! My mom will moan but if it's safe then there's no problem," America laughed, though he was slightly surprised by the bluntness of the question.
England glanced at the moon, saying nothing, and America could not help but fidget in the uncomfortable silence.
"You never told me about yourself though. You're not really a girl are you?" he asked after a moment longer. This awkward silence would smother him if he did not somehow dispel it.
England looked at him with a start and something of an annoyed scowl on his face. "Of course not! I'm perfectly male and I'm twenty-one years old!" he snapped.
"Twenty-one, huh? So you're older than me?" America mused.
"You can count. Well done," the sarcasm on England's tongue was always the most venomous.
Ignoring his tone, America continued to ask; "So are you a student? Or do you work?"
"Why do you want to know?" England looked at him contemptuously.
"Hey, where do you live?" America remained unfazed his usual foul temper.
"It's none of your business!"
America could not help but shake his head at how unsociable England was being. Hell, why did he even come into his room if he planned on doing nothing but keep his lips firmly shut? Well, he was not the kind of person who was easily deterred by unfriendliness, even though he knew very little about England, or any of his companions for that matter...
"Hey," he said just as the silence started to settle upon them again, "I've been thinking about it a lot but I was wondering…why is it I've never seen any of you log out?"
England winced. It was not bright enough to see his expression, and he quickly composed his features into a scowl, but America caught the look anyway.
"Well, if you must know, I was born in Langden but I moved to Acraemi," England replied, though it was not the answer to the question America had wanted, he was more excited by the fact that they were actually a lot closer than he had thought, at least in real life they were.
"Hey, that's where I live!" he grinned.
"So you've told me," England did not look too happy that they were sharing the same continent with each other.
"When I finally manage to log off we should hang out!" America gushed, excitedly. Already his concerns about never waking up and never logging out had vanished. Had he really once entertained those gloomy thoughts? Of course he would be able to log out eventually! And after that they could -
"We hardly know each other!" England protested with such force, anyone but America would have been instantly offended.
"Well - "
England blew a few strands of hair out of his face. His frown deepened. "Take my advice. Keep this world and the other world separate. You'll be much happier that way," he grumbled, crossing his arms firmly over his chest. It appeared that conversation was over, and England was ready to leave America feeling puzzled and slightly off-put.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means what I just said." England closed – slammed, rather – the door.
America sighed and flopped onto his bed. Sometimes, it felt as if he would never understand what went through that irritable head.
Still….he could not shake the feeling that England was keeping secrets from him. In fact, they all were, and if there was one thing America's insatiable curiosity could not stand it was knowing that peple were keeping him in the dark.
XX
