Story: Sticks and Stones, Chapter 6 - Trust
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia...

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"Okay, what to do first...? How do you set this crumby thing up, anyway?" was the first thing Japan had heard in practically decades. Before turning on the TV, America had been completely silent, aside from a few things he'd randomly said out of no where, which was obviously said just to cancel out the silence. Why was America acting so weird?

"I can take a look, if you want, America-san." he offered. America looked at him, smiling, frustration obvious on his face.

"Naw, I totally got this, dude." America laughed nervously. It was rather easy to tell that the blonde didn't know a single thing about what he was doing. Japan mentally sweat dropped, averting his gaze to the side.

"You're not very good at lying, you know..." he told him. At that notion, America sighed softly in defeat.

"...Help me, will you?" he mumbled, somewhat awkwardly, as he gave Japan the disc in his hand.

"Hai, of course." Japan replied simply, giving his friend a brief look of concern, before turning to the DVD player. Being Japan, he naturally managed to figure out how to set it up fairly fast, and tried to explain all the details to America after putting in the disc, however America, being America, wasn't really the best of the best when it came to that sort of thing, so he finally sighed, giving up.

He then handed America the remote.

"Awesome! Thanks, dude. Now let's watch this!" Alfred smiled, as he grabbed the Japanese man's hand, dragging him over to his bed.

However, needless to say, America's strange behavior wasn't any less noticeable throughout the movie. He kept looking away, and gazing off into space. The only times he really seemed to be paying attention, was at the occasional jump scares.

Beside of that...Normally, he would've glomped Japan out of fear at least ten times during these kind of movies, but this time was a different case. They were a ways apart on the bed, and he'd only 'clung on to him' about three times that night.

Either this movie wasn't really that scary, or something was definitely wrong with America. He was pretty sure it was the second, and that was a dumb question, he realized. It was bluntly obvious what was wrong with him, too, but how it had effected him so badly, and why, was beyond his understanding.

"America-san," America jumped at hearing his name. He looked up at the Asian.

"Y-yeah...? What is it?" he replied, tears evident in his eyes. Japan briefly studied him, before speaking.

"You didn't really want to watch a movie, did you?" he questioned.

"I did", America started to deny it, however, when he met the challenging gaze of the Asian, he discovered that he couldn't win this. "Not..."

He looked away, unable to bring himself to speak at that point. Japan reached over, picking up the remote, as he paused the movie.

He then looked back over at America. "Melancholy doesn't suit you very well, you know."

America forced a grin. "What are you talking about? I'm totally fine, dude."

Japan wasn't fooled. He met his eyes. "Do you remember what I said earlier?"

"Huh?" America stared at him in slight confusion. "What you said? Earlier?"

"You're not very good at acting, America-san." Japan told him. "Despite how much you may try to deny it, I can see that you are lying."

"Japan, I..." America was silent for a long time, before turning away. He'd suddenly found himself unable to face him. "Listen, dude, I really don't want to be a burden to you like this..."

"Iie...It's really no problem." Japan shook his head, smiling a little, as he gently cupped the American's face in his hands. Gentle as it may be, however, it was enough to get their eyes to meet. "This is something I'm personally asking for. Please allow me to shoulder your burden."

America looked into his eyes, immediately seeing the deep concern and worry. Before he knew it, he could feel tears slowly welling up in the corners of his eyes. He tried his hardest to hold them back, however, Japan had already noticed this, and asked once again, "Please, America-san."

His eyes pleaded for America to just let it out. He didn't like seeing him suffering like that.

America, on the other hand, couldn't look at him a second more. At that point, he couldn't hold it in any longer. He just couldn't. Japan gave a smile of slight relief, when he fell into his arms, resting his forehead on his chest. For the first time in over a month, the younger nation cried. Just like that, he let everything out, which seemed to suffice the Asian. Well, at least to some degree.

Japan slowly reached up, returning the embrace, a little awkwardly. He wasn't really that used to much physical contact like this. Then again, he wasn't really that used to comforting people, despite his age, so he supposed it made since.

He waited until America had calmed down some, before speaking. "America-san, if you don't mind, I'm aware that about a month ago, England-san said something to upset you, and since then you've not been eating much of anything." he felt America somewhat stiffen, but continued. "However, there's more than that, isn't there? If you'd be willing to share, I would really like to know the extent of it."

America stayed silent for a while. He knew that this might be the only chance he got to talk to someone for a while. And if he told Japan that he didn't want to talk, he might get the wrong idea in thinking he didn't trust him, and that was the last thing he wanted. He did trust Japan, more than any of his family, more than anyone else he knew, and even more than himself. But still, he didn't want to bother him with all the problems that he had.

Well, it's not like it could do that much damage, right? Right.

He sighed sadly. "I guess I'll have to start from the beginning..."

~ End of Chapter.

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A/N: What do you think? Hope you guys liked this chapter. Again this is not AmeriPan, despite how much it might seem like it. Hopefully, Japan wasn't TOO out of character. Either way, please review and tell me what you thought.

Iie - No

DON'T READ ANY FURTHER INTO THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN HETAONI (Unless of course you like spoilers).

PS: You can thank HetaOni for a little bit of this chapter. Like in the first time loop when Italy found Japan in the Piano Room, and he was about to die. Italy offered his 'White flag', which he'd actually already used while helping the rest of the Nations. It was basically the conversation that ensued, that inspired the part where Japan says "Despite how much you may try to deny it, I can see that you are lying." If you're a HetaOni fan, I think you'll get where I'm coming from.

Domo arigato gozaimasu. *Bows*