A/N: Good evening, everyone! Finally, I posted after who knows how long of being idle. Um...so yeah, a Hetalia one-shot, just like I said some time ago. Uh...This was actually what I wrote for my Final Year Examinations, and among the various choices of prompts given, I chose 'Silence', thus the title, though I might have messed up on that here. Oh, kill me, I beg you!

I got an A, even though I kept thinking I was gonna fail. *epic face*

It's as according to what I originally wrote, except I added in the flashback and some other details, which includes Lovi's colourful language.

Warnings: Hmm...Not much except for life-changing outcomes for the characters.

Disclaimer: If Hetalia was mine...*fantasises*

Longer A/N at the bottom. ^^"

The ground shook violently again, but everything remained silent. Clouds of smoke obstructed my vision as I clambered up the pile of rubble, followed close behind by a dark-haired Italian, his odd flyaway curl swaying in the stiff breeze. I gave him a brief glance, noticing his deep scowl as he struggled slightly, shouting over the din.

Once again, I turned a deaf ear to him.

He obviously was annoyed by my reaction, or lack thereof, and showed it greatly by speeding up his climb to reach the top before me. I let him.

By the time I was up next to him, steam was pouring out of his ears, his cheeks turning a slight tinge of red. I stared silently at him, waiting for a word to come out of his tightly pressed lips, almost raising an eyebrow in a questioning gesture. It was his typical appearance whenever, as I had noted over the years, he was utterly furious at something. This was no exception.

"I was trying to tell you something, dammit! The Captain relocated the rendezvous point! Why didn't you give a fucking signal of comprehension?" Lovino's voice was venomous, and as usual, I said nothing, preferring to stay quiet and pretend I hadn't heard him. Dissatisfied with my response, he grabbed my arm in a jerky motion. "Are you listening to me?"

There was a moment's silence, broken by the faint explosions in the distance. It was this time that I chose to respond, first with a glare. "I'd be a deaf person if I couldn't hear you the first time, idiot!"

Lovino hated insults, and on any normal day, he would have let fly a long chain of vulgar words which never failed to break my peace and quiet, even during missions like these, but today, he did otherwise. Keeping his lips tightly pressed together in a thin line, he gave me a glare. For a moment, we just stood there, maintaining eye contact, perhaps waiting for each other to break the connection first. It felt like forever standing there, motionless, letting the silence engulf us as we glared each other down. In that brief moment, I remembered the day long ago, when Lovino and I first met.

"Godfuckingdammit! Watch where you're going, will you?"

"A-Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't see you...I'm sorry, really!" I helped the fallen man up to his feet, profusely giving him my apologies as I proceeded to pick up his scattered grocery items. "I'd have been more careful if I wasn't in a rush...I'm really sorry!"

As I picked up the packet of sugar on the floor, I noted the vast amount of tomatoes that hadn't rolled out of the fallen basket. Wow, he must love tomatoes...It sort of reminded me of...Myself! I looked up the man, now wearing a scowl on his face. His hazel eyes glared daggers at me, but deep within those eyes I saw something else. My gaze continued for as long as it took me to place the groceries back into the basket, scrutinising him – his face specifically. A mass of dark-brown hair, with an odd flyaway curl looping towards the right side of his head...and those hazel eyes...

"What are you staring at?" he growled. A light one – not scornful, and in a tired sort of way. And...Oh, was that an Italian accent I heard?

I blinked rapidly, clearing the thoughts out of my head. Walking closer to the man, I handed over the basket. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

I was beginning to sound like a broken record, repeating the phrase over and over again. The man's scowl deepened for a moment, before he let out a sigh, relieving me of the basket. "Yeah, whatever. Don't bump into people blindly the next time, alright?" he made to move past me.

"Uh, wait!" I blocked him, earning another scowl as he turned to face me. "Could...May I...know your name?"

"Why the fucking hell would you want to know that?"

"Be-cause...You seem like a nice person to be friends with?"

I mentally noted the red tinge that coloured his cheeks, internally squealing at how cute he looked. The man shook his head vigorously, glancing at the checkout counters before fixating his eyes on me again. He seemed flustered.

"Vargas. Lovino Vargas."

I smiled at him. "Can I call you Lovi?"

Lovino stared at me as if I'd gone mad, then blew his cheeks, hardening his expression to a glare again. "Nessun! You just fucking met me and you wanna give me a fucking nickname like that? There's no way in hell I'm letting you-"

"You can call me whatever you want once I tell you mine."

A long pause. Lovino blinked several times at me, as if struggling to register what had just been said, and I found his confused expression cute and amusing at the same time. About a minute or two had passed when Lovino seemed to snap out of his trance, a small smile decorating his face.

"Si."

"...You like tomatoes, don't you?"

"How's that related to the first topic? Anyway, you should say that about yourself, fucking idiota who's holding two bagfuls of them. "

An explosion rocked the earth beneath our feet, jolting me back to reality. I remained disoriented for a while, and would have been left in that state for eternity if it hadn't been for another quake caused by a second explosion. I shook my head, ridding myself of past memories. Memories that I wished so hard to relive.

No more. That could happen no more. Giving a soundless warning to Lovino, we moved on through the war-torn country, keeping in mind the threat of hidden enemies.

The two of us had been at the breaking point of our friendship numerous times – today was no exception. Lovino's constant ranting and language riddled with profanities, even by military standards, were always greeted by silence and my apparent indifference, particularly whenever I felt agitated by him, and in return, he becomes as irked. Perhaps it was silent agreement, but who'd know? I had been turning a deaf ear to Lovino lately, and even the other soldiers could see that.

If only I knew what the day would bring, I would have acted differently towards him.

In our ignorance as we hurried on through the ravaged land, a mine detonated just a few feet to our right, close enough to blow us off our feet - literally. I heard the soft beep and saw the blinking light, but was a split second too late to react. The long-held silence between Lovino and I was shattered, replaced by an ear-splitting explosion as both of us were thrown to the ground. Seconds ticked by before the silence came to retake its place, and all was nothing but darkness.

I awoke to a gentle shaking, regaining my consciousness after who knew how long of incapacitation, and wrenched my eyes open. Everything was a blur, but as it cleared and refocused, I found myself staring deep into Lovino's hazel eyes, full of worry and concern. His lips moved, but nothing came out of it.

I blinked in confusion. I could have sworn they were moving, no doubt about it. Lovino's lips moved again, albeit wider, but again, I heard nothing...Not even the sound of gunfire, or the deafening explosions.

No...I thought, tears welling up in my eyes as the bitter truth dawned on me.

My world had gone into eternal silence – the one silence that I had dreaded to hear my entire life.

I could hear no one, and nothing.

A/N: ...How did this garner an 'A' again, considering it came without the flashback and the profanities? Hell, you can't expect me to write 'fuck' in the exams itself, could you? I only alluded to it. And I'm really sorry if the repetitions of words was annoying - it was a "school requirement" to mention the word (or its similar meanings) every paragraph.

In case you're wondering, no, the one in first-person need not be Spain/Antonio. In fact, I hadn't originally planned who Romano/Lovino was with for this entire essay, so I'm leaving it to you to say who you think it is. ;) Though the flashback sounded A LOT like Spain, but that was because I don't know how else to write it.

I just realised how short this looks...O.O Oh well,I love you Hetalia. You've earned me 3 A-graded essays. XD That's right, folks - I'm uploading another two!

Review please, and critique too; I know I'm ungrammatical somewheres. If you can find it, do tell me. ^_^

EDIT: As mentioned on my profile,you can now treat the one in first-person as Antonio/Spain,but a Spain who's unfortunately under too much pressure from the war to tolerate Lovi's (somewhat) constant rant during the mission. :D and D: at the same time. I sound evil,don't I? Sorry,but I like to see characters in pain...XP Oh! I'm taking requests for one-shots too! Refer to my profile for more details! :D