Hetalia is owned by Hidekaz Himaruya, this fanfiction is owned by me.
Sterile.
If one had to describe the room Antonio had woken in a single word, they would've picked that. The strong smell of disinfectant and the ever-ominous beeping of a life-support machine told Antonio where he was. Yes, hospitals were places Antonio was all too familiar with, given his condition. Diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome at a young age, Antonio had been in and out of the wretched places his entire life.
He slowly opened his eyes, groaning as he became adjusted to the brightness of the room, alerting his friends, who'd all been talking amongst themselves at his bedside.
"Hey…" he mumbled weakly, stirring just a little.
Monan was the first to speak. "Arthur texted me after first period and told me you'd fainted! Are you ok?"
"Of course he isn't, stupid!" Lovino snapped. "If he was ok, he wouldn't have been rushed to hospital, would he?!"
"You know what she means, Lovino," Arthur added. "How are you feeling, Antonio?"
"Been better," the boy chuckled in reply.
A nurse entered the room a moment later, a stony expression in her glasses-adorned eyes.
"You gave your friends quite a scare, young man," she said coolly.
Monan turned to face her. "Did you find out what's wrong with him yet?"
"It seems that he had a rather serious episode of his Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome," the nurse explained.
"Which means?" Lovino enquired.
"His heart was beating too quickly," she answered.
"Antonio…" Arthur whispered softly in concern.
"We've tried contacting your parents, but nobody picked up the phone," the nurse told Antonio, "Anyway, you should be able to go back to school soon, given that you're stable, but we'll need to keep you for a little while, so we can be certain that you're alright."
"Ok," Antonio replied affirmatively, relaxing a little. Truth be told, he was relieved no-one was available at home. His dad would totally freak out if he knew what had happened!
Lovino glanced up at the clock, noticing that it'd gotten quite late. "Guys, shouldn't we go soon? We have school tomorrow," he asked the others.
"Yeah, you're right," Monan agreed. "Promise we'll come visit you every day until you're better, Antonio," she added. "Coming, Arthur?"
"No, I'm going to stay a bit longer," Arthur told them. "If that's ok with you, Antonio?"
"I don't mind," Antonio said warmly, and Arthur gently sat himself on the bed.
Satisfied that her patient was taken care of, the nurse exited the room, her twin-tails swishing softly as she turned to leave.
B-B-BBB-BB-B—B-B-B-BBB-B-B-B-B-B-B-BB-B—B-B-B-B—B-B-B-B—B-B-B—B—B-B—
"Why didn't you tell us about…your illness?" Arthur asked him.
Antonio ashamedly turned his head up to face him. "I didn't think you needed to know," he parried, "It's not like I get this bad all the time!"
"Well, perhaps I—I mean we, did need to know," Arthur remarked, "You had Lovino and I terrified when you collapsed this morning, minutes after you insisted you were fine!"
Antonio had no ideas on how to respond to that. After all, he only wanted to keep his friends from worrying about him.
Arthur's face fell, and he shuffled slightly closer to Antonio. "Look, if I'm going to be your friend, I need to know as much as I can about you so I can help you when things like this happen," Arthur said softly, placing an innocent hand on Antonio's shoulder.
"I'm sorry I worried you," Antonio replied, green eyes falling slightly.
Arthur gently removed his hand from Antonio's shoulder and gave him a gentle embrace. "Tell me whenever something's wrong, and I promise I'll try to make it right for you," Arthur began, "That's what friends are for, right?" he added.
Antonio relaxed into the embrace as it tightened to a hug. "Right," he agreed.
The two fell asleep like that a little while later, in the cradle of each other's arms.
The detention Arthur got for being late to class the next day was totally worth it!
How's about some cuteness to end that chapter? You may be wondering why I'm taking so long to get Arthur and Antonio together, and the reason for that is, I want to develop their romance realistically, rather than it being a true-love-at-first-sight deal. Also, cookie for the first person to guess who the nurse is! See you next chapter!
Kitty x