Eight Mortal Secrets [Hetalia Drabbles] (Completed, to be Edited)

Mini Drabble III: Beautiful

"Hey, Shelbs, whatcha doin'?" Alfred inquired, glancing over at her from his side of the couch. He was becoming rather bored with the Full House marathon on TV and he hadn't heard Shelby speak for a while.

"Just drawing." Shelby responded nonchalantly, not even bothering to look up from her sketch book. Alfred sat up straight and leaned towards her, trying to see the drawing. It was a picture of her TMNT character, Shelby Bradford.

Shelby had explained to America that the TMNT character was meant to represent her, personality and appearance wise. But when Shelby actually drew her, she always took extra care to make sure her character's flaws- and therefore, her flaws- were prominent. Alfred watched her erase the nose for the second time before drawing it slightly larger than the previous two sketches.

He frowned. "Why do you do that?"

Shelby's eyebrows furrowed as she glanced up at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Why do you always try and make the character look as ugly as possible when she's supposed to look like you, dude? Do you think you're ugly or something?" Alfred teased, leaning over and jostling her arm lightly with his elbow.

Shelby blinked as she paused in thought, looking back down to her paper. "I... I guess I do try and make her look bad." She muttered, setting her notepad aside, as if the motivation had suddenly drained from her.

"Why do you do that, though?" America pressed. "Is Bradford supposed to be ugly or something?"

"I mean, she's supposed to be just average looking." Shelby stated.

"But she's supposed to be you."

"As her name implies, yes."

"So, you don't think you're pretty?"

Shelby's cheeks were beginning to turn red in frustration. "I mean, not really, if you must know." She snapped. America flinched slightly from the harshness in her tone. Seeing his reaction caused Shelby's face to soften a bit. "Sorry, but, no, I don't think I'm all that pretty."

Alfred raised a brow in confusion. "But why? I don't get it." He ventured, his voice a bit quieter now.

Shelby crossed her arms over her chest, her face twisting uncomfortably as she glanced at the picture of her character. She could still see the kids making fun of her, only a few seats down from her spot at the lunch table. She could still hear the laughs of her classmates as she walked down the hall. She could still imagine the loneliness in her chest and the burning of her throat, even though it was 5 years later.

"I don't really want to talk about it." She whispered, turning away from Alfred as she pulled her legs up onto the couch and curled them underneath her.

"Dude-"

"Alfred, please just drop it." Her voice came out rather harsh, the sharpness of the tone ripping through both of them simultaneously. Silence ensued for several moments, before Alfred scooted slightly closer to Shelby, leaning forward in an attempt to see her face.

"My big brother used to have this saying," he began, but Shelby didn't move, afraid that if she looked into his eyes, she might start crying, "'Those who call themselves 'ugly' don't realize that someone out there thinks they're the most beautiful person in their eyes.'" Shelby didn't respond; she only curled herself up into tighter ball, as if trying to disappear. "And I think you are beautiful." He stated quietly, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down at the floor, his cheeks flushing slightly.

Shelby's lip started to tremble, but she took a deep breath to steady it and slowly exhaled, relieving some of her pent-up emotions. "They also say love is blind."