Love Doesn't Have Words [SLOW UPDATES]

-First Impressions-

Then, speak of the devil, the door opens and a red-and-white striped boy comes in. E.U. looks at him, pausing what she was saying. The striped boy walked to his seat without a word. He didn't need to look at the board, knowing that he was probably the only empty seat in the class.

"Excuse me, U.S.A., where were you? Class started 10 minutes ago." E.U. pointed out before he could sit down.

He fell into his seat. I flinched at the sight; he just collapsed into his chair so casually. This "U.S.A." was pretty tall, not as tall as me, but taller than some others in the room. Maybe he was an average height, because a lot of the Asian countries here were quite small and I'm really tall. He was also visibly muscular under his tight black shirt. Yep, he tried to ditch.

"Just call me America, it's easier." the stripe boy responded, pushing up his sunglasses.

"That doesn't answer my question, U.S.A." E.U. looked kind of annoyed as she said that, ignoring his request. Maybe it's usual for him to be late.

"We're holding up the class. I'll just tell you after," America says.

Wow. This kid has some nerve to talk to a teacher the way he does. E.U. rolled her eyes and continued explaining a few more things. I still didn't listen to her.

America. I feel like my dad or Belarus has talked about him before. His full name was probably United something of America since every "U" in an initial was United or Union. I would have laughed if I could, realizing that "something" could fit in his name. I just smiled.

America turned around. I don't know why he suddenly turned, but his eyes locked with mine. I was glad my smile was hidden by my hand as I realize I was staring. I look back at E.U. quickly. There goes my reputation.

E.U. decided to move on from rules. She passed out textbooks, saying that our homework would be in there most nights. There was some complaining as the class started talking.

She put a textbook on my desk. I looked up at her questioningly, and she just looked back.

"What's wrong?" She asked. It wasn't like how Belarus would ask. Belarus was caring and patient, but the was E.U. said it was impatient and confused.

I looked back at the book, then up at her. I start to move my hands, hoping she knew sign. She spoke before I could get out a second motion.

"I don't know sign language, Russia."

I sighed. She should know sign, she is a teacher after all. I guess not every teacher expects to have a mute or deaf student.

"I can translate."

Me and E.U. looked at who spoke up. Japan did say she had a friend who knew sign in this class. But when I see who's looking at us, it's that America guy.There's no way this kid knows sign language. E.U. seems to be just as skeptical as I am, but lets him try.

I sign to him what I wanted to say. Well, I try. I'm not the best at ASL, I prefer Russian sign, but it's understandable for the most part. I point to my chest, then hold out my hands. I flip them, then point the the book. The whole time, America looked me in the eyes, which I could see since his sunglasses started to slip. We held eye contact, which is unusual for someone trying to translate sign language. Shouldn't he be looking at my hands?

America turned to E.U. once I was done, pushing up his sunglasses to cover up his eyes again. "He said he's done this textbook already."

E.U. looked kind of stunned. I don't know what she was stunned about, America knowing sign or me finishing the textbook, but she was surprised about something.

"Well, then you went ahead of the class." E.U. said simply after recovering from her shock. She went to go pass out the rest of them.

I looked at America and he just shrugged. I pointed at him, then my head. I made a few shapes with my hand, signing out "you know ASL?"

America nodded. "As the Land of the Free, I have to know a lot of languages."

What an answer.

I nodded slowly, looking down at the textbook. He couldn't be Japan's friend. She was so cutesy and nice, and he was so... not. Was arrogant the right word?

But, that fit the loud part. He has to be Japan's friend. Weird. Maybe I don't know him enough to see why Japan is friends with him. I have, after all, only known of his existence for about ten minutes.

"So, why do you know ASL?"

I looked back up at America. I didn't expect him to follow up on our conversation. Not many people feel like talking to someone like me. Well, yeah, not many people talk to someone who can't talk back, but I meant how I was kind of intimidating with my height and family.

But, America wasn't scared. He had a small smile on his face, a kind of welcoming one, but I couldn't be sure since I couldn't see his eyes. Why was he even wearing sunglasses? That wasn't the point, the point is he isn't scared of me.

And that's how it went. He talked to me for a while. I told him I was mute, and he found it cool. At one point, he switched from talking to me to signing to me. It was weird, but nice. I had only been signed to by my family. They used Russian sign, but it was still pretty meaningful.

I could kind of see it now, why Japan was friends with him. He seemed all loud and arrogant at first, but he was pretty chill, and was good at listening and being quiet when he needed to be.

Oh yeah, Japan.

I asked him about her. He seemed to think, which he hadn't done before. He usually responded quite immediately. Oh, he was looking at my hands this time. Did I sign that wrong?

He signed back. That means I did it right, I guess. He says that they're friends but it's complicated. What's that supposed to mean?

I nodded slowly. Before I can ask what I was thinking, the bell rang and E.U. told us all to "go on and skedaddle".

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Translations:

Roshia: "Russia" In Japanese (romanji)
Ganbatte: "Good Luck (too you)" in Japanese (romanji)