Warning: Talk of Anorexia/Bulimia, cursing/foul language, and terrible writing

Conner sighed as Alfred had fell asleep, his breathing long and shallow. He stood and ran a hand through his brown hair, wondering if Alfred had any relatives that he could stay with. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out Alfred's phone, typing in the pass-code 1776, and opening his contacts list. Antonio C. was the first name, then came Arthur K.; Feli V.; Francis B.; Gilbert B.; I. Yong Soo; Ivan B.; Kiku H.; continuing all the way down to Yao W.. He noticed two names had stars next to them, Timothy and Pierre. Choose one Conner told himself, before pressing onto Timothy. Timothy had picked up after two rings, letting out a tired," Hello?" "Hello, is this Timothy?" Conner asked, and the other line was silent for a moment, before Timothy responded. "What did you do ta Alfred?" He asked, sporting a thick Boston accent. "I.. I didn't do anything to him, he... passed out, at the gym. We're in the Hospital right now" Timothy was silent again, before Conner heard lots of noise from the other line," Don't move an inch, me an' Pierre are gonna be dere faster den you can say Roanoke" "We're at Lenox!" Conner informed him before the line went dead, and he assumed that Timothy had hung up. "How long has this been going on, Alfred?" he asked to the sleeping man on the hospital bed, folding his arms.

America jogged to the end of the street, where a few other morning runners were jogging in place. "Hey there, Alfred, still on that diet?" One of them, a woman, asked. America nodded," Mmhmm, lost a few pounds already!" "That's great!" The light turned green, and the crowd dispersed. "Well, see you around!" The woman said, crossing the street. America turned the corner, jogging to where he knew a grocery store would be. America had his wallet in his jacket pocket, as well as a shopping list of protein-rich foods and lots of vegetables and fruits. He stopped a few feet away from the store, leaning on a lamppost and raising his hands to his head to help him breathe. America's cellphone rang in his pocket, playing No One Notices Your Brand New T-Shirt. "Hey bro!" America greeted, answering the call. "O-oh, you knew it was me!" Came a delighted response. "Course I would, dude, why wouldn't I?" "It's just that you always- nevermind, where are you?" Canada asked, and America shrugged, before remembering Canada couldn't see him," I'm at the grocery store, they got some pretty neat produce here in NYC, you should come see for yourself!" "That's the thing, Al... me, Arthur, and Francis have been waiting for you at the Airport for about an hour now" America fell silent after the revelation, before cursing," Fuck, sorry dude, I totally forgot! Listen I'll come by and pick you guys up and get y'all something to eat, kay?"

Canada sighed, before replying with," Fine, but Arthur's getting pretty pissed. You better hurry" "Dude, I always hurry, because I'm-" "The hero, yeah, we know. Bye" Canada finished, but unlike the other countries, there was no hint of annoyance in his voice. America shoved his phone in his pocket before sprinting back to his home, taking about ten minutes to get back. "T-Tony, dude" America panted out as he fumbled with his keys," Make sure to leave my *pant* planner out when you clean the house" America drove as quick as he could to Airport, weaving in-and-out of traffic before parking in the lot twenty minutes later. He ran inside, accidentally elbowing and pushing some people, who shouted and cursed at him. "Fuck, where did they say they were?" America asked no one in particular, looking around for a familiar pair of bushy eyebrows, or a wayward curl on someone's head. America did see a few people with long blond hair, but none of them oozed 'froginess', as Britain called it, quite like France did. America sighed, knowing this would result in death, but he knew he had to do it anyways. He took a deep breath, and was about to shout," The Beatles suck!" before he heard someone call," Alfred!" from behind him.

America turned around to see Canada, France, and Britain waiting less then patiently for him, and he blushed slightly in embarrassment. "Sup dudes?" America asked loudly, wrapping his arms around them all and squeezing tightly. "A-America, can't breathe" Canada whimpered, and America let go of them quickly," Whoops, sorry dudes" He apologized, and Britain rolled his eyes, huffing. "You look like you just went jogging" France noted disdainfully, eyeing America's sweaty jacket and running shorts. "Because I did" America replied happily," Are we gonna go eat or what?" America asked, getting impatient. "Ah, yes, but I don't want any of that fatty food you bring to every meeting" Britain said, dragging his suitcase away. "What's wrong with Mc. D's?!" America whined, and Britain scoffed," I don't feel like getting heart disease, or becoming over weight. You clearly care about neither, if your flabby stomach has anything to say about it" America felt his heart sink at those words, but laughed it off," Whatever dude, your just totally jealous of my totally heroic body"

America loaded everyone's suitcases into the trunk of his car, before climbing into the driver seat. Eventually, the quartet made it to America's home in one piece, after stopping at Dunkin' Donuts (Because America runs on Dunkin') and grabbing a few donuts and some coffee (and some tea for Britain), then America unloaded everyone's stuff. "You can take your own luggage to your room" America huffed as he dropped France's suitcase on the ground. "D-did you get Kumakiji?" Canada asked, and America nodded," Yeah, Kuma's right here dude" He confirmed, opening the little dog cage to allow the miniature sized polar-bear to walk freely. "Hungry!" He whined, pawing at Canada's leg. Canada sighed, about to give up a donut, before America tossed his donut to the bear. "He can have mine, I don't feel very hungry anyways 'cus I ate before going on a jog" America said simply, stretching his arms above his head. "Th-thanks" Canada said in his usual quiet voice, and America waved him off dismissively," Don't worry 'bout it. I gotta take a piss, go ahead and get comfortable" America said, walking calmly to the bathroom. He closed the door and pulled his shirt and jacket off, staring glumly at his stomach. "It isn't working?" He mumbled pitifully, turning to the side to see that his stomach was, indeed, still hanging over the waist-band of his shorts. "Damn... maybe I should stop eating out so much" But that means you'll skip meals, and won't be able to eat on your way to meetings and- "Shut up, dude, it just means I need to wake up earlier, and make a sandwich or somethin', I'll be fine" America said to himself, pulling his jacket and shirt on again, before flushing the toilet to make it seem like he had used it. He flopped down next to Canada on the couch, allowing the Canadian to slide closer to him as the cushions gave way to his weight. Need to lose those pounds The voice chimed in America's head, and for once, he agreed with it.

Two teenagers, around sixteen, entered the room quietly. "Are you Conner?" One of them asked, he had blond hair, thick eyebrows, green eyes, and freckles. He nodded," You two are... Timothy and Pierre?" "Yep" "Mmhmm" Timothy and Pierre answered at the same time. "I'm Timoty" "And I'm Pierre" The introduced themselves, and Conner nodded. Timothy was the first one who spoke, Pierre had dark skin and long hair pulled into a frizzy pony-tail, as well as blue eyes. "What happened ta.. Alfred?" Pierre asked, a Southern drawl lacing his words. "He passed out at the gym, just like I said" Conner replied steadily, wondering how much these two knew. "You can tell us, we're his brothers" Pierre added, blue eyes filled with worry. Conner sighed, hoping the kid wasn't lying. "Alfred has... an eating disorder" He began, and Timothy nodded glumly. "Yeah, we knew. We tried ta keep him eatin' but he never retained da calories, ya know?" He sighed, and Conner nodded slightly. "Well, I gave him a granola bar, which he started to eat. But when I walked off, he went to the bathroom and purged the little bit of granola he ate into the toilet, along with his blood and stomach fluids"

Pierre and Timothy stayed silent as Conner described everything that had happened, including how Alfred had woken up at some point, and stayed awake long enough to answer a nurse's questions and talk to Conner himself, before passing out again. Timothy nodded, leaning on the wall," Dat's Alfred for ya.. Always awake to help oders but when it's convenient for himself, he'll be asleep" He tried to joke, attempting to lighten the mood, but failing. "Whose gonna fill in for him at work?" Pierre asked, and Conner shrugged," I know Matthew probably won't, but the Hospital will probably call and tell them he's unable to come in" Timothy and Pierre nodded glumly," Can we have moment alone with Alfred?" Pierre asked, and Conner nodded," Of course, he is your brother after all" Conner left the room after taking one last pitiful glance at Alfred's skinny and frail body, tears welling up in his eyes as the gravity of everything set in.

Timothy and Pierre were silent for a minute... then two minutes... three minutes... then four, before finally speaking. "Someone has ta tell the others 'bout this" Pierre sighed, wiping his eyes. "I know, Pierre, I know" Timothy mumbled, sliding down the wall to sit on his bum. "What is everyone gonna say? Oh man they'll be so upset, especially the younger ones like Santa Fe and Oregon and Red River and Florida and Alaska and-" "I get it, Pierre, we have a lot of people to tell, but we will get around to it" Timothy grumbled, clutching the sleeves of his jacket tightly. "But, who's gonna take America's place in the meetin's!? The Superpower has ta be there or nothin' will get done so one of us has ta fill in-" "I KNOW, LOUISIANA TERRITORY, DO YOU TINK I DON'T!?" Timothy shouted, tears running down his blotchy cheeks. Louisiana took a step back, shocked, before his lip began to tremble," I'm scared, New England, what if the other nations take this as a sign of weakness an' decide to attack?" He whimpered, falling to his knees and burying his head into New England's chest.

"Listen ta me, Louisiana" New England sighed, rubbing his brother's back soothingly," America may be down for now, but I'll represent us trew da meetings, I've been trew every war in American history, dey won't mess wit me. America will wake up soon, he'll get bettah soon, and den... everything'll go back to normal" "Promise?" Louisiana territory asked, and New England nodded," I promise"

America started his day by getting down on his hands and toes, and doing 50 pushups, 50 situps, and 50 lunges. It may seem excessive to others, but that's just how he started his day. The next UN Summit was in a few days, and America wanted to drop at least one pound before meeting all the judgmental nations. "America, what the bloody hell are you doing up there!?" Britain shouted from the living room as America's arms gave out from the pushups. Odd, they've never given out before... Oh, it must mean my body's getting used to the McDonald's withdrawal! This is perfect, my body will start eating the extra fat and I won't be so chubby anymore! With an uplifting thought in his head, America forced himself to finish his exercise on shaky arms, before lying on his floor with sore biceps and triceps. "Damn" He whispered, out of breath," I am so out of shape" It was true that he hadn't woken up to exercise like that since the Cold War, but he shouldn't be that shaken by a bit of work! "Shower... then eat" America told himself, standing slowly.

He passed France on his way to the bathroom, sweat slowly running down his body. "Oh, is petite Amérique a bit tired from getting out of bed zhis morning?" He asked, an eyebrow raised mockingly. "What is zhis, a belly? Mon dieu, it must be zhe end of zhe world for you, Amérique, to know zhat you are fat" France laughed, walking down the stairs and jumping onto an unsuspecting Britain. America frowned, heading into the bathroom and closing the door firmly. He pinched his stomach, which still seemed to be hanging over his waistband, and then pinched at his sides. If America simply looked in the mirror, he never would have known about the fat on his sides, but he wasn't simply looking in the mirror, and he now know about the fat on his sides. There wasn't as much fat as there was on his stomach, but it was still there. "Dammit, I need to loose all this" America grumbled, stripping out of his boxers and sweatpants. He pulled out a scale, and stood on it. 210 it flashed, and America frowned. Only three pounds? He's been on this diet for at least two weeks!

He sighed, stepping into the shower and turning on the water, ignoring the burning feeling on his skin as the air steamed up around him. Maybe the hot water will wash the fat away America thought, and he snickered. He always was a dreamer, in that way. He finished the shower quickly, as he had only wanted to get rid of the smell of sweat, and he pulled on his boxers and sweatpants, hot water continuing to run down his fat body. He ran a towel through his hair, before grabbing his phone from his room and flopping onto his couch next to Apollo, scratching the dog's head affectionately. "Good morning Al, good morning Apollo" Canada greeted, sitting down next to the American. "Sup dude" America replied, his thumb flying over his thumb screen. "What are you looking at, Al?" Canada asked, and America shook his head," Nothin' important, dude. Well, I take that back, everything the hero looks at is important, but not to civilians like you"

Canada rolled his eyes, scoffing jokingly. America's eyes widened slightly at the result of his search, his jaw slackening slightly. How long does it take to loose weight with steady exercise and controlled eating? 1-2 pounds per week was the answer, and America had to swallow his shout of dismay. "Breakfast is ready!" France called from the kitchen, jolting America out of his spiral of despair. "Yay!" Canada cheered quietly, walking quickly to the kitchen, while America followed more slowly. "What is it?" America asked, and France grinned," At zhe request of Angleterre, I 'ave made beans and toast wizh sausage and eggs" He replied proudly, passing out plates of the meal to everyone. France muttered a quick prayer of thanks, no one eating out of respect for France's religion, before beginning to eat.

"Why aren't you eating, Al?" Canada asked quietly, and America shrugged. "Well, I'm on a diet and I'm not sure this is good for me, if I'm being honest dude" He replied simply, poking at the eggs with a fork. Britain's large eyebrows flew up in surprise, and he smiled," You're on a diet? That's wonderful! It's nice to see you taking care of your body for a change" France nodded in agreement," I agree wizh Britain, but surely eating one meal off-course could not 'urt?" He asked," 'ow much weight 'ave you lost?" "Three pounds" America said happily, and France nodded," Which means you deserve zhis meal. Come on, eat up, I'm not letting you let my wonderful cooking go to waste" America recoiled slightly, wrinkling his nose. "Don't reward me with food, dude, I'm not a dog!" America scraped a few beans onto his slice of toast, before taking a bite," I'll eat this and the eggs on my plate, but that's it. I can't regain the pounds I worked hard to lose" "But, Amérique-" "No buts, this is my final word as a hero!" America declared, taking a large bite out of the beans and toast.

I hope this chapter was okay... anyways, if anything in here was shit, please let me know. I want to make this a good story. Until next time, good bye