Chapter One
It had all started with a simple fight. Not one Italy was involved in, of course. He had been watching from the Allies and Axis conference table, worried for both England and Big Brother France's safety when it happened. Usually, when their usual squabbling got physical, he would cry and urge Germany to break it up. But not today.
"For the last bloody time, I am not the black sheep of Europe! Stop calling me that!" England growled, punching France square in the jaw. The Frenchman hissed in pain and glared at him, tenderly pressing his hand to the injury, which was already beginning to swell.
"My apologies, Angleterre," France spat, in no way sounding apologetic, "I forget how much you detest hearing the truth." He retaliated with a punch just as, if not more, venomous.
The quiet crunching of cartilage was followed by England's cry of pain, the hit having landed directly on his nose, effectively breaking it. It wasn't the first time this had happened, and doubtfully the last.
Italy had been watching with fascination as England's face contorted in pain, his eyes widening a little as blood trickled down the Englishman's hands. The way his emerald eyes blazed with agony and fury was slightly hypnotic, and part of him itched to make them burn brighter. France grimaced as he held his cheek, his brow creased, his expression far more beautiful than a smile ever could be.
England lunged angrily at France, and Italy's heart fluttered a little as he heard a pained gasp of breath as France hit the ground, the air having been forcefully expelled from his lungs due to the fall.
"Hey, stop fighting!" America called out. They ignored him. England instead grabbed France's pristine white shirt, his nose dripping blood on it, and slammed his head down on his face.
"Merde!" France's strangled cry came, his voice pained. He squired, trying to throw England off him.
Before either of them could continue the fight, America seized England, yanking him off France, who was bleeding as profusely as his adversary was.
"I sodding hate you!" Arthur sputtered, not bothering to struggle against America, as he was far stronger. Having nothing to staunch its flow, the blood from his nose was seeping over his lips and down his chin, where it leisurely traveled down his neck to stain his shirt.
France carefully rose to his feet, grimacing and gently dabbing at his bleeding nose with a handkerchief he pulled from his front pocket. He looked up, meeting England's glare with one equally as seething, but also slightly sad. "I hate you, too, mon cher."
Germany sighed heavily, his jaw clenched in annoyance. "If Francis and Arthur are done trying to kill each other," he shot them each a brief glare, "we'll continue with the meeting."
"Their noses are broken," Japan pointed out, looking a little concerned. "That should be fixed as soon as possible."
"I'll do it!" America volunteered, letting go of England in his excitement. "I'm the hero, and the hero always helps when people are hurt!"
"There's no bloody way I'm letting you play doctor." England stated, straightening his clothes out, opting to do that rather than attack France with his sudden freedom from America's grasp.
America opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Russia. "I've had a lot of experience with broken noses!" He smiled a little too happily. "I'll fix you two, da?"
"Non, non, non," France said quickly, panicking a bit. "We can go by hospitals on our way home."
"It'll hurt more if you wait." China stated. "You should let Ivan do it."
"Out of all the dumb things I've heard today, that is the stupidest." Romano rolled his eyes, everything about him giving off his 'I'm one hundred percent done with you moronic idiotas' aura. "Asking Russia to fix an injury is like feeding someone who's starving to death some of England's scones. It's only going to make things worse and probably kill them."
"Excuse me!" England gasped, offended. "I'll have you know that my scones are-"
"Romano does have a point...I don't think letting Russia to do it is a good idea." America reluctantly agreed, interrupting England.
"I'll do it." A soft, whisper of a voice offered. Italy looked to see where the voice had come from and saw a nation he hadn't noticed before. He looked almost identical to America, if you disregarded the length of his hair and the strange little curl.
England rolled his eyes. "Alfred, already said I wasn't going to let you-"
"That's Canada." France said defensively. "You, of all people, should know. He was your colony."
England opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Germany. "Go ahead, Amer-…Canada, was it…?"
Canada nodded sheepishly, his expression suggesting that he wasn't used to being addressed directly by other nations. Setting Kumajirou down, he stood, walking up to England first.
"It's going to hurt." He warned, his voice quiet and a little apprehensive.
"I know. This isn't my first broken nose." England sighed. He gave Canada a concerned glance. "Is this your first time fixing one…?"
Canada shook his head. "Hockey sticks don't always just hit the puck, and the puck doesn't always go where intended." He shook out his right hand a bit, preparing to reset the displaced facial feature. "Normally, it would be too swollen to do anything, but it seems it's already healing a bit, so the sooner we do this, the better. Are you ready?"
England took a deep breath and nodded. Canada lifted his hand to England's face, bending his fore and middle fingers and placing one on either side of his nose.
"On a count of three, all right?" He said, sounding rather calm. "One…two!" On the second number, Canada jerked his hand down fluidly, a harsh crack echoing through the silent conference room as his nose popped back into place.
England cried out in pain, stumbling over to the nearest solid object to lean on for support, which was America.
Italy gasped softly, leaning forward a bit to see his face better. The way he grimaced was quite interesting, and he wanted to see more.
"You okay, dude?" Alfred asked, his voice unusually soft.
"Splendid." England groaned, one hand on his face and the other on America's shoulder.
"Sorry," Canada apologized quietly, even though the pain was inevitable. He turned and walked toward France, wincing a little. "Ready, Papa?"
France's tense expression softened a bit and he nodded, though he looked extremely uneasy after seeing England's pain.
"Take deep breaths and don't flinch away, otherwise I might have to do it again, and doing it a second time is even less comfortable." Matthew said. France nodded, and the Canadian lifted his hand and repeated the same motion he had done with England.
Italy almost laughed as France's nose cracked back into place, and it was all he could do not to grin when he heard his cries of pain.
"Merde, ça fait mal!" France exclaimed, switching to his native language in his distress.
"Sorry, Francis." Canada apologized, glancing back and forth between him and England. "Sorry, Arthur."
"It's all right," England assured him, letting go of America and wiping involuntary tears off his cheeks. "Thank you, Canada."
"Merci, Matthew." France said a moment later, though a little distracted by the lingering pain from having his nose reset.
"I'm happy to help." Canada said quietly, smiling.
"Now since that's taken care of, let's continue the meeting." Germany sighed, rubbing his temples as if to alleviate a headache. "The next person to interrupt without first raising their hand will face consequences, understood?"
Everyone nodded. Italy did, too, even though he knew it was an empty threat. Germany was nice, he would never hurt anyone! Italy's smile faltered a bit at the thought, almost disappointed by it.
The meeting picked up where it left off, and as usual, Italy didn't pay attention. He was much more interested in his thoughts, which strayed to matters unlike the ones his mind frequented. Instead of daydreaming about pasta, girls, and cats, images of France and England's faces contorted in pain flashed through his mind, the memory of their screams echoing melodically in his ears.
A/N: Hello! All right, since this fic is already complete, I'm going to upload a chapter every few days, if that's good! (There's ten) I hope you enjoyed chapter one, and I hope you enjoy the rest, if you're intrigued enough to follow! Leave a review? (: