APH America x Reader

Chapter 5

During school, I paid as little attention to Alfred as possible. I instead hung out with Ludwig, Feliciano, and Kiku.

Feliciano was his normal happy self, bringing pasta to class, and laughing during important instructions. Ludwig was sitting next to him, trying to calm him down. And Kiku was reading manga under the desk. We were working in a group project, trying to get a poster done for an assignment. I was the only one working.

"Feliciano, please stop with the endless talking." The teacher called out.

"I'm-a sorry!" He said, filling his mouth with pasta.

"Guys, we need to focus. Kiku, I know manga is amazing, but put it away and you can read it during lunch, okay? Feli, plEASE PUT THE BOWL OF PASTA DOWN! And Ludwig, can you find me a ruler?" I took the position of leader for once and gave kind directions to the three.

"But pasta is so good, bella!" He said. I shook my head and he slowly put the bowl of pasta down, looking sad.

I ducked under the table to where Kiku was absorbed in an action manga and pulled it out of his hands.

"Sorry, Kiku, but we have a deadline! I'll give this back after class!" I hid it under my folder, and Japan looked at our poster for the first time, slightly salty about having his favorite manga taken away.

Ludwig set the ruler down next to me.

"Vere, Y/N." He said, and I picked it up.

After many times prodding them senseless, they finally pitched in and we finished the elaborate poster. It was the nicest one in the class.

"Vank you for your help, Y/N. Ve vouldn't have gotten anything done if it veren't for you." Ludwig said, showing his gratitude. I nodded.

"Shouldn't you be vorking vith Alfred?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Well, he kinda got me mad, so I'm ignoring him right now. But it's fine, you don't have to worry about it at all, okay?" I said, trying not to sound sad. He nodded slowly, trying to understand. He decided not to ask any more questions, and we went back to our group discussion.

After the bell rang and I gave back the manga to my unamused friend, I went to my locker to get my backpack ready to go home. Guess who met me there?

"Hey, dudette! Haven't seen you at all today! What's up?" He said. The knots in my stomach tightened.

Why am I feeling so upset with him right now? Well, it's kinda because he lied to me about being grounded. Did he really not want to hang out with me so bad that he decided to lie about being grounded? One part of me kinda wants to forgive him, but the dominant part is still angry.

I'm angry because, at that exact moment when I realized he was lying-

I felt alone.

For the first time ever since I've been friends with him. He had never turned down an invitation to my house unless he had a good reason, like he had to be somewhere else. But right then, he ditched me for no reason at all, except the only obvious one.

He didn't want to spend time with me anymore. Am I too unsociable for him, the star of the football team and social butterfly? I guess I am now.

And I feel alone.

"Not now, Alfred," I said, closing my locker and moving past him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He said, walking besides me. I was starting to get on the end of my nerves at this point.

"Nothing, now please go away or something!" I said as politely as I could.

"Stop, Y/N. WHAT'S WRONG? The hero can help!" He said, stopping in front of me and looking into my eyes.

"NOTHING! LEAVE ME ALONE, ALRIGHT? PLEASE!" I said, running off into the girl's bathroom, where he couldn't follow. I stayed there after all the students left to go home. About five minutes and the halls were completely cleared.

I heard a voice from outside the bathroom.

"Y/N? Are you still in there? Please come out and tell me what's wrong."

He was still here, even though he should have gone home by now. Maybe he does care.

I walked outside of the bathroom. He was right outside the door, leaning against the wall. He looked over to me. I was trying hard not to cry.

"Okay, now tell me what's wrong! You seemed really ticked off back there, and you never seem ticked off." My stomach twisted and did an Olympic gymnastics routine in my stomach.

"You really want me to tell you?" I said. He nodded, like that was the obvious answer.

"Okay, well, it was you. You were the one who pissed me off, Alfred." I said. He looked confused.

"What did I do?" He asked, still questioning.

"You SERIOUSLY don't know what you did, Alfred. Wow, that's low," I started, launching into a rant.

And when I start ranting-

It never turns out good.

"YOU were the one who lied about being grounded and ditched me for no reason! How are you surprised? You could have just said that you didn't feel like hanging out at my house or something, but no, you just had to lie to me. What is your problem? And after I was rejected, I hear that you're in your room, playing on your Xbox all day and won't even come out to watch hockey with your brother! So yes, Alfred, my feelings ARE hurt, huh? Because after I realized you lied to me, I felt alone. Because my best friend decided he had better things to do. I'm totally fine with you not wanting to come over to my house, it's just that I'm NOT fine with you lying to me! You never used to EVER lie, Alfred. What happened?"

End of rant. Except I was on the brink of tears. Out in the deserted hallway after the school day.

"Y/N, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made up that big lie to you. This is all my fault, okay? Okay." I looked away as my eyes watered, about to spill over.

He looked into my eyes, which were brimming with tears. Then, he wrapped me up into a forgiving hug.

Which he had NEVER done before.

Even though we were best friends for so long, the most touching we had done was any secret handshake we deemed fit. Never any more than that. So when he gave me this hug, my tears flowed over out of surprise. I hugged him back.

"I'm sorry, for lying, and making you cry, and everything, and, oh my god, Y/N, I'm sorry, okay? Please stop crying!" He said, hugging me tighter.

His chin just hit the top of my head, he was so tall. I fit into his arms like puzzle pieces.

"I'm okay now. Alfred, you can let go." I said after I finished my short crying episode.

"I'm not going to. I feel too bad for lying to you." He said. "I'm not going to let go until you start smiling again." I sighed.

Then, his hands went to my sides.

Where I am the most ticklish person in the entire world.

He tickled me, and I squeaked, breaking free and laughing uncontrollably. He finally stopped when I was lying on the ground, panting.

God, that sounds so wrong.

"There. Now you're smiling again." He said proudly. He helped me up, saying, "Now, let's go over to your house and okay video games, alright?"

So maybe it was just a mistake. He obviously seemed to feel really bad about doing that.

The hug thing was awkward, though. He seemed to not be bothered by it at all, giving me a hug without effort. Like it was the easiest thing to do.

"Yeah." I said, walking out of the school side by side with my best friend.