Chapter Ten
*this chapter mentions some of my state OC's and José and Eduardo, who are the Mexico characters that I settled on for this story, I hope that no one minds!
The phone buzzed.
One.
Two.
On the third ring the call was answered.
By the time he proudly stated, 'Hi, you called The Hero?' Japan had taken his shoes and coat off, shrugging the heavy fabric off onto the hook that held it. The phone pinned between his ear and shoulder, he had swiftly entered the kitchen and sat at the table, knee bouncing nervously as he shifted his phone to his hand.
"Hello?" The American asked again, louder this time before hardening his voice, "Are you trying to sell me shit? Because I don't want it."
"No, America-san," Japan said hurriedly, "It's me."
"Ahh! Japan! Why are you calling me?"
"I-"
But America swiftly cut him off, his growing smile evident even through audio, "Dude, do you wanna come over again? Maybe down to Texas this time?"
"Ah… no. Not yet." Japan sighed as he pressed his tips into a thin frown, squeezing his eyes closed. It had been a long day, meeting with Russia, texting China, not getting many answers, the whole package. To top it all off he had dropped the nikuman bun he had bought at the convenience store on his way back to his house. Though Alfred was his friend sometimes his high energy was hard to deal with after stress.
"Oh."
The American's word had barely registered in Japan's mind, but he caught onto the saddening emotion in his voice before drifting off into self-pity for the food he had wasted. Instead he spoke again, almost regurgitating the message that Russia had told him to give the American.
"I'm working with Russia."
There was a silence, and Japan could almost feel the shock and fear through the phone.
"Dude," America choked, "Are you betraying me!?"
Realizing his mistake and that his friend thought he meant in war, which was what he should have assumed would have happened, Japan cursed quickly, "Aa, no, Alfred, I'm not betraying you."
The young nation exhaled, voice shaking slightly with relief, "God, Japan you nearly gave me a heart attack! Don't do that again…"
Japan nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Yes. I won't Alfred, I'm sorry. That was stupid of me."
"Yeah, I thought so." America sighed, his voice wobbling and anxious. Though he was trying to hide it, for a moment he had been ligenimently sad. Anger hadn't been his first emotion, which scared him. To stay safe, personifications like him were supposed to not be attached to others, people or countries. Instinctively, they had to be in Fight or flight mode much of the time. Freezing like he had wasn't an option.
"So…" America said, drawing out the syllable, "what did you mean?"
"Russia wants to find out something about China."
"Why."
The blankness in the statement surprised Japan, he had expected a laugh, or at the very least an octave change. It didn't even sound like a question, there was no higher note at the end of the word, no confusion. Nothing.
Noticing Japan's silence, America asked the question again, some emotion is his voice. "Why does he want to?"
Japan started to say something but America laughed loudly, "I mean, what is there to find out? He was just being weird!"
"Aah, yes, I think so as well, though 'weird' may not be the politest word for it." Japan hummed as he drummed his fingers on the edge of the table.
"Meh," America sighed, a rustling sound in the background giving away how he was sitting down, "I'm still pretty strongly politically against him, my boss is kind of telling me I should dislike him as well, though they also said that for Russia and I can sometimes get along with him…"
Japan hummed again, nodding to himself though he knew America couldn't see it, "I know Alfred. I know, but I kind of want your help…"
"Why?" America asked, sneezing loudly at the end of his statement, "Sorry man, been a little 'bleck' recently…"
"Oh are you okay?" Japan asked, furrowing his brow.
"Yeah yeah, just a little 'bleck', not like I wanna die or something, why do you want my help? And with what? You got Russia for that."
Taking note of how he only called Russia 'commie' to his face, Japan scratched the back of his head, "I just don't know how long I can get along with Russia, it's not that I don't like him as a person, it's more that our governments will try to split us up…"
Breaking off to let America sneeze again, Japan glanced to the window of his kitchen before continuing, "and, between me and you, I don't really trust them together."
America laughed loudly, "Same dude! I mean, it's probably not a good idea to have a comunist power and a formerly communist power together."
"Hai…" Japan smiled softly, his eyes becoming sadder, "Russia is going to talk to China again, though he said it was to apologize for scaring him, it's not related to this."
"Scaring him?" America snorted, "How?"
Japan blushed, "He broke into his house…"
America let out a loud guffaw, "What?! Oh man, that's so… like, great but not great! That is so expected of him!"
As America continued laughing, Japan struggled not to start to laugh as well, his face pulling into a wide but closed-mouth smile, the skin around his eyes crinkling into lines that only occasionally showed.
"Okay okay," America sighed, his smile still evident in his voice though he had stopped laughing, "I'll help you, but just for you, not Russia or China."
With a soft smile, Japan nodded, "Thank you America, that is very appreciated."
"But dude," the American said, sounding suddenly uncertain, "what do you want me to do exactly?"
Japan shrugged, for a moment forgetting that his friend couldn't see him, "I… I don't have anything specific yet… but I will eventually if that is alright."
America snorted and Japan hurriedly spoke again, "I- I mean, I'm sorry Alfred, I'm sure we could find a job right now-"
The American again cut him off, "No no no," he smiled, "I don't mind at all, my lazy ass can barely get out of bed most of the time, and I had some business to deal with for my states, when you have a job for me you can call me!"
Japan exhaled, blushing slightly, "This is a major relief, thank you very much Alfred-san…"
"No problem!" He grinned over the phone, "And when you find out what ever you're looking for from China please come over, I miss you buddy!"
Japan's face twisted into another smile, "Thank you America, I miss you also."
"Always," America grinned, "when you can come I want you to meet Texas though,"
"Haven't I…?" Japan frowned, confused.
"No no," his friend laughed, "you met Alambama and Louisiana last time we were down South, Texas was away in a meeting with José and Eduardo in Mexico, probably arguing about something…"
"Really?" brushed the small Japanese man again, "I didn't know…"
"Nah it's fine!" America smiled again, "I hope you have a fun time or whatever meeting up with Russia or however it's going to go, if you don't mind, I kinda have a government meeting that I'm late for already,"
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Exclaimed Japan, "さようなら America-san!"
"Bye!" America giggled as he brought the phone away from his ear, pressing one of the buttons to end the call.
He sat on the couch for a moment, processing his conversation. It wasn't like he was annoyed by it, he really did appreciate Japan's trust in him, it was one of his favorite things about his ally.
But he was also well aware of how much he clashed with Russia. Again, it wasn't straight up hate, he had hoped for a friendship at some point, maybe more than just that, but this wasn't the time. The Cold War had only ended a few years earlier and he was sure that Russia should have had better things to do than worry about someone who he had so recently disagreed with.
It was true that Russia and China were allies and America was mildly aware of the fact that they had known each other much much further back since they were both very old nations. It had something to do with Mongolia, he knew that.
Yet Russia just… didn't seem like a person who would genuinely worry about something as random as one outburst.
It didn't feel right.
