I got hit with the plot bunny during an after-school choir practice, then this story was born. It is a Gaken AU, America and England centric, with many of the other characters making appearances.

Alfred was being unusually quiet, as quiet as Matthew, even. Even Arthur and Francis agreed that something must be wrong, and they never agree on anything.

Ever.

World records aside, Arthur was worried about his friend. Alfred had only said one sentence during the entire day, and that was to ask Matthew to tie some purple ribbon around his wrist. There was something seriously wrong going on.

Before class, Alfred walked up to their teacher and showed him a laminated card, never saying a word.

The teacher didn't call on him for an answer even once during the entire ninety-minute class, despite the fact that Alfred wasn't raising his hand.

This particular teacher, a strict German man with really long blonde hair, had a habit of calling on students if they didn't raise his hand for two consecutive questions. Something was definitely up.

When they entered their next class, the same thing happened: Alfred showed the teacher his laminated card thingy, and then didn't say a word for the entire class. He didn't even greet his friends verbally!

After class, the pair headed off to lunch together, the silence still hanging between them causing Arthur to fidget nervously.

They sat down with their usual group, but Alfred still didn't say anything. Francis sent them an odd look; Arthur could only reply with a helpless shrug.

Grabbing his student ID, Alfred headed off to get his lunch. Most of those remaining began asking his equally-silent twin rapid questions.

"Is Alfred alright, aru?"

"Did someone upset the git?"

"Matvey, do you know what's going on, da?"

"He may be a dumb bastard, but I never figured he'd spend a day being dumb in that sense of the word! What's going on?"

"Ve~ Fratello! Language! But really, Mattie, what's wrong with your brother? Does he need some pasta?"

"Mathieu, is there something wrong with Alfred?"

"Guys!" Ludwig finally snapped. "Calm down and ask him questions one at a time! Most of you wound up asking what was essentially the exact same question!"

Arthur took a deep breath. "I dunno what's going on," he tried to explain. "He's been this quiet all day."

Matthew, Gilbert (who had been oddly silent, Arthur realized belatedly), and Kiku, the only ones who hadn't asked any questions, raised their wrists above the table. Each wore a purple ribbon with the words "DAY OF SILENCE" written in silver around their wrists.

"'Day of Silence'? What's that?" Arthur asked.

In response, Matthew slid a laminated card, very similar to the one Alfred had shown their teachers earlier, across the table.

"DAY of SILENCE®
www. dayofsilence .org

Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling, and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step towards building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today.

What are you going to do to end the silence?"

"... oh," Arthur forced out. "How many people are participating in this?"

Matthew shrugged, pulling out a small whiteboard and a dry-erase marker. It's a good cause, though, he wrote. That's why I support it.

"I was kind of wondering what the whiteboard was for," Francis commented thoughtfully.

Arthur grunted and focused on his tea (What? He can't have a nice cup of tea at lunch? Feliciano can randomly summon everything necessary to make pasta, so why can't Arthur make a cup of tea appear out of nowhere?) and sandwich, withdrawing from the conversation.

A sudden whack followed by an indignant cry jolted him out of his mid-crowd isolation. When he looked up, Francis was clutching his upper arm and eyeing Matthew (who was holding his whiteboard in a rather threatening manner and glaring at the blonde frog) with a half-scared, half-admiring gaze.

Arthur smiled. "Is it too late to join the Day of Silence?" he inquired, focusing his gaze on the silent blonde.

Matthew shook his head, scribbling something on his whiteboard. Just ask Alfred for a card when he gets back; I ran out of them earlier this morning. I might have some spare ribbons, though.

The first thing Arthur, Francis, Yao, Feliciano, Ludwig, Lovino, and even Ivan did when Alfred returned to the table was ask if he could help them with their ribbons.

No one spoke for the rest of lunch; their remaining classes were equally silent. However, this didn't bother the group of friends. They knew their silence was for a good reason; they knew that the silence they upheld said infinitely more than words ever could.

Okay, I wrote this for the Day of Silence my school held today. Basically, you have this card that essentially says "I'm not going to talk all day to support the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered people who stay silent about so much every day, my voluntary silence is an echo of their silence" and all that, then your teacher understands why you're not talking. All the teachers were in on it, too.

*EDIT* I actually had to go back through this. The "link" was messed up, plus I messed up this one part... it didn't make sense before...
But it's fixed now, and I recognized my mistake, so it's all good!

DISCLAIMER: I did not create the Day of Silence, and I also don't own Hetalia. I'm not earning any money from this story; it was written for the cause and because it was on my mind. I didn't write what was on Mattie's card, it is an exact copy of what was written on the one I got with a few minor changes. I don't know if the website is real (it probably is, though), but it's exactly like what is on the card (minus the spaces, of course, but FFN is weird in how it won't let you post a link in a story).