Hetalia is owned by Hidekaz Himaruya, this fanfiction is owned by me.
Two teenagers stand in the glow of the dying afternoon, their forms casting long, dark shadows on the ground, bathed in golden sunlight. One of them stands upright, with his bloodied, alabaster arms wrapped tightly around the other, a slender, olive-skinned boy, covered in cuts and bruises, shaking violently as he sobs into the former's chest.
"Antonio," the alabaster-skinned boy whispers gently, cradling his companion's poor, battered body.
For a minute, there is no response. Antonio continues to let out pained little sobs, muffled by the royal blue velour of his companion's jacket, staining it with fresh blood and tears. And then a choked out, weak response emerges.
"A-Arthur...I'm not s-sure how much m-more I c-can take of this," he admits, his sentence broken by hiccups that wrack his already trembling form.
The confession hits Arthur hard, slamming into him like a wrecking ball. Over the past few months, he's really been fearing for Antonio's safety. It was only six months ago, that Arthur and Antonio had been the most popular boys at their school, the boys that made the girls swoon, and the other boys green with envy. They were at the very top of the food chain, teachers loved them, other boys wanted to be friends with them, all the girls wanted to date them...
Well, that was until Antonio and Arthur had gone and told everyone that they were a couple, falsely believing that their so-called "friends" would accept them. The people whose faces once glittered with admiration and envy for the two of them quickly turned into hideous, bigoted monsters who existed only to make their lives hell.
Arthur breaks away from the embrace and cups Antonio's chin, turning his face up to look at him.
"I'm not sure if I can stand much more either," Arthur confesses, wiping a fresh tear from Antonio's eye.
The bullying was slowly getting worse, day by day. But never had it become physical, until now. Some of Arthur's former "friends" had started punching him out in the boys' changing rooms after P.E that afternoon, and Antonio had recklessly jumped in to try and protect him, only for the bullies to make Antonio their target instead.
"You fool," Arthur snaps, "Why didn't you just run away like I told you to?! If you'd only done as I said, you wouldn't be this beat up now!"
"I LOVE YOU!" Antonio cries, "I love you, Arthur, and I didn't want to just stand by and let them do that to you!"
Arthur embraces his lover again, carefully snaking his arms around Antonio's waist.
"I'm scared. My whole body hurts, and I don't how much longer I can take this bullying," Antonio whimpers. "But I'll endure it, every minute of it, if it's for you."
Arthur feels like breaking right there and then. He's terrified and hurting too, and he knows that Antonio's doing his best to stay strong. But he shouldn't have to. He loves Antonio, his dear, sweet little Spaniard and he wishes that there was something, anything, he could do to make everything OK for him.
"We're going to get through this together. I love you, you know that, and I'm always here for you," Arthur tells him gently.
Antonio sighs softly and closes his eyes, letting himself melt into his lover's arms. In this cruel, painful time, he's grateful to at least have a pair of loving arms to bury himself in when everything gets too much for him to bear...