Have I ever mentioned that I don't own Hetalia? Oops. Well, it's kinda obvious that I don't, I barely own this laptop. I own the mind and fingers that produce this, and the ability to love Hetalia with all of what is left of my soul after Clannad and HetaOni destroyed most of it.
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That night; after setting Colin on the only windowsill in the dorm room, Antonio wished Lovino goodnight and was about to head to his new room when the Italian handed him a small packet containing a handful of small round pieces made from white rubber.
"Earplugs?" Antonio asked curiously and Lovino nodded, averting his gaze.
"Trust me, if you want any sleep you'll wear them. I snore." Lovino muttered and Antonio nodded, taking the packages gratefully and marvelling at his new room mate's thoughtfulness.
"Gracias…well, have a good night." Antonio said with a smile, heading into what was once Feliciano's room with his suitcase to rest. He decided to unpack tomorrow as he had the day off; Wednesdays were when he had the afternoon assigned to form time with Lovino, who for the time being was off school to allow his ribs to heal.
And so, after getting changed into a pair of pyjama trousers (he had bought some after realising he was now sharing a dorm with someone else and would sometimes walk around the room in the morning wearing whatever he went to bed in), Antonio crawled into his new and rather unfamiliar bed and pulled a couple of earplugs out of the small packet he had been given. He assumed they had been leftover from when Feliciano lived in the dorm as it was unlikely the rather temperamental boy would buy them of his own accord. Although, Antonio was beginning to think he might have judged the boy too harshly…or maybe not. The Spaniard decided he would try to remain open minded, he felt like his sanity depended on it.
He relaxed into the bed, the absolute silence was strange but somehow calming, and pulled the covers over and around himself so that he was tucked into them rather snugly. As he started to drift off he thought about his evening so far. After finally entering the dorm-room, Lovino went into his bedroom for a little while (Antonio hoped to lie down and rest his ribs) and then came out just as Antonio decided to go to bed. It was a little awkward around the younger boy, after all he barely knew him. Still, he seemed quiet. Antonio hadn't heard a sound coming from the next room all evening and had assumed that the younger boy had fallen asleep until he came out and gave him the earplugs.
Finally sleep pulled the Spanish man into the realm of the unconscious, and away he slept. Blissfully unaware of the whimpered cries and occasional screams emanating from the bedroom opposite his own.
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When Antonio awoke the next morning, he had thought that he had gone deaf and begun to panic. Wondering why the world sounded so muffled, Antonio clutched his head in despair when he felt the little rubber lumps protruding from each ear-hole. With a large sigh of relief, Antonio remembered the ear-plugs. He grinned to himself as he plucked them from his ears and sound rushed to him…well, distant sounds of muttering and a car's engine from really far away.
The Spaniard climbed out of bed and headed out of his bedroom into the silent apartment, rubbing his face sleepily. He dragged himself into the kitchen and found, to his immense relief, a ready-made pot of coffee. He poured a mug of the bitter smelling liquid and went to drink it.
"Are you a fucking idiot? That much could kill you, you stupid bastard!" Antonio nearly dropped the cup and looked up to where Lovino was stretched out on the sofa reading a magazine.
"What?" Antonio asked, suddenly eyeing the cup warily.
Lovino sighed, looking back to his magazine. "It's espresso, get a smaller cup idiota." Antonio paled and put the mug down, reaching into the cupboards to retrieve a palm-sized glass cup, more suitable for the highly caffeinated beverage.
"Thanks for the warning." Antonio smiled gratefully, receiving only a disinterested grunt and the sound of a page turning in response. He filled the smaller cup with the liquid from the larger one, tipping the excess down the sink, and took a sip which burned his tongue slightly before taking a mouthful of the coffee and setting it on the counter beside him with a satisfied sigh. Antonio turned to observe the young Italian who appeared to be following the orders of his doctors and lying still, reading a magazine. All of the writing on it was in Italian, but it looked like some kind of sports magazine. "You like sports?" Antonio said in surprise, wandering over to Lovino with his espresso in hand.
Lovino glared at the magazine in front of him, irritated by the interruption. "Si, I like sports." He muttered in response, growling at Antonio who sat down on the floor beside the sofa.
"But you suck at sports?" Antonio said questioningly. It wasn't meant as an insult, Antonio was genuinely curious.
Lovino turned the page of his magazine so angrily that it ripped slightly. "I do not suck!" he fumed, "At least not at all sports, I'm good at running." He stated, though not in a boastful way. Antonio made an 'ah' of understanding, nodding slowly then his eyes emerald eyes grew sharp as he recalled something.
"Doesn't your brother have the school record for running?" Antonio asked, to which Lovino smirked, still looking at his magazine.
"Bitch please, who do you think taught him how to run so fast?" Antonio put on a face of mock innocence, putting his finger to his lips as if he were in thought.
"Hmm…Mr Beilschmidt?" He asked, laughing at the expression on Lovino's face, before the Italian whacked him on the head with the magazine.
"Go and do some of your boring teacher shit." Lovino said, a hint of humour to his voice. Antonio groaned childishly as he stood.
"But Lovi…" Antonio whined, ignoring Lovino's hissed warning not to call him by that name, pouting as he put his coffee cup in the sink. "I don't want to do marking, all of your classmates are too stupid or too busy talking about my ass to actually bother learning Spanish." He added in that childish whine. Lovino finally looked over at Antonio, eyebrows raised. "What?" Antonio asked, "You think teachers don't read the notes they confiscate in class?" He added with a smirk of his own.
Lovino blinked owlishly a couple of times before turning back to his reading, shaking his head in disbelief.
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For Antonio, the rest of the day was spent unpacking his suitcase into his new room and finishing off some preparation work. His next lesson wasn't until Friday, so he had enough time to get it all sorted. When he was done, he went into the sitting room, deciding that it was time to water Colin. Inside the sitting room, Lovino was still lying on the sofa, though now he had the television on and was surfing through the channels with a bored expression on his face. With a sigh he put down the remote and got up from the sofa, wincing and clutching his ribs as pain had flared up in his chest.
"Lovi, what are you doing? You're supposed to rest! The doctor said you shouldn't move hardly at all for the first week at least." Antonio fussed.
Lovino glared at him, teeth gritted in pain as he ground out, "Stop pretending like you care, damnit. Besides, I'm just going to take a shower." He straightened up and walked slowly to his bedroom to retrieve some clothes, and then seconds later came back out and walked into the bathroom. All the while, Antonio stood in the middle of the room, dumbfounded. But I'm not pretending…
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A little while later, Colin was watered and Antonio was sat on the sofa watching a cooking show intently. "I wish I could cook." Antonio muttered to himself quietly.
"No one's stopping you." Antonio jumped in his seat, looking up to where Lovino stood drying his hair with a towel. Antonio looked at him oddly, the Italian was wearing comfy-looking navy blue sports trousers and a light blue t-shirt, but what was weird was the large damp patch around his midriff.
"Didn't you dry yourself properly?" Antonio asked, ignoring the Italian's comment. He hadn't known the other was listening. "You could get sick if you walk around soaking wet." The Spaniard added, Lovino just shrugged carelessly.
"The bandages take ages to dry and I get bored of waiting." Lovino said simply.
Antonio raised an eyebrow, "You're not supposed to wear them in the shower Lovi, you're supposed to change them." Lovino looked away, ignoring Antonio. "You haven't changed your bandages yet?" he asked in a mixture of shock and confusion.
"…I can't." Lovino replied quietly, still looking away from Antonio.
Antonio regarded Lovino for a moment. "You can't because you don't know how, or you can't because it hurts too much?" Antonio asked.
Lovino shrugged sulkily, "both." He replied in a small voice.
Antonio sighed, standing up from the sofa. "Take your t-shirt off." He said, barely believing the words coming out of his own mouth.
"Mi scusi?" Lovino blanched, backing up slightly.
Antonio realised then what he sounded like, "No, I was just going to help you with your bandages!" he cried, holding his hands up defensively. Lovino raised an eyebrow and Antonio shook his head, "I'm not a pervert, I swear!" Lovino scoffed, muttering about the kind of people Antonio was friends with under his breath.
"Fine." With that the Italian walked into the bathroom, Antonio watched him for a few moments before following him inside.
The bathroom was quite small, so the two had to stand rather close. It was also still rather steamy from Lovino's shower which meant the room was very warm. Antonio asked where the bandages were and Lovino pointed to the first-aid box under the sink. When the Spaniard bent down to pick up the box, Lovino decided to see what all the fuss was about. Everyone was right, he decided. Antonio had a rather fantastic ass. His cheeks reddened slightly, but the Italian knew that Antonio would just assume it was from the heat, so he was safe.
Bandages in hand, Antonio rose and looked at Lovino for a while. Said Italian grew frustrated, looking away and then back to Antonio a few times until he had had enough. "What? What is so damn interesting?" He snapped, his face reddened from embarrassment.
"It's kinda hard to bandage you with your top on." Antonio stated the obvious and Lovino realised, his blush growing deeper and spreading over his neck as he pulled the blue cotton top from his torso and over his head. Antonio found where the bandage was pinned, undid the safety clip and began to unwind it, revealing the Italian's tanned chest. He had to admit that Lovino had a nice body, slim but not in the effeminate way that he thought Feliciano probably was. No, his chest was softly toned, though he was far too skinny for someone of his height. "You need to eat more Lovino." He muttered and Lovino shrugged absently, he was looking somewhere to his left, blushing from the sheer humiliation he felt.
Deciding to spare the boy, Antonio undid the new bandage. He instructed Lovino to raise his arms as he placed the beginning of the strip at the centre of his chest, pushing him to turn around as it would be easier to wrap him from behind.
Lovino reluctantly turned to reveal his back, his eyes clenched shut. He winced at the sound of shock coming from the older man. "Lovino…what…?"
Antonio resisted the temptation to touch the other boy's back. It was tanned like the rest of him, but heavily scarred. The scars looked like they were all from around the same time and all rather recent. It was hard to say what they could be from due to their strange shape, some were small circles, and others were large gashes down his back. "What on Earth happened?" Antonio asked, trying not to panic.
"You should know, you read my file." Lovino snapped, Antonio couldn't help but notice his voice sounded hurt.
Antonio shook his head slightly then continued wrapping the bandage around Lovino. "I haven't read your file." He said quietly.
Lovino furrowed his eyebrows, turning to half look at Antonio over his shoulder. "…But Mr Wang said-"
"I honestly forgot all about looking. So no, I don't know what happened... and I'm not going to check either." Lovino looked even more confused.
"Excuse me?" He asked and Antonio straightened up, having finished bandaging Lovino.
"I'm going to wait and let you tell me, when you're ready." Antonio said simply with a small smile, picking up Lovino's discarded top from the floor and handing it to him as he walked out of the bathroom and into the sitting room.
Well you'll be waiting a long time then bastard. Lovino thought to himself, biting on his thumbnail anxiously.
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Tadaa :P
I managed to get this done ^-^
I cannot tell you how nervous I've been about writing this chapter, I hope I didn't screw it up. If I did, please tell me how and I can try to fix it?
I've been trying to improve my writing, I spent a whole day at the library reading and taking notes on ways I could improve so hopefully things should start getting better...
OMG the creepiest thing happened at the library! My friend's mum (who absolutely hates my guts and wants to kill me cause I'm convincing my friend to move out of that house because she is NOT safe there and her parents keep threatening to kill her) showed up at the library just after I told my friend (her daughter) where I was and invited her and then as soon as I told her she stopped responding and then her freaking mother shows up and sits next to me for FIVE HOURS. She just sat and read the newspaper over and over and occasionally looking up at me. But it was all good because just before she showed up there were these two Russian guys sitting next to me and they were applying for British passports or something and they asked me for help with some stuff and so I did and we were talking and they were teaching me a little Russian and we were talking about the differences between countries and how I want to visit Russia. Basically, they came back and sat at the other two seats available so it was me, my friend's mum and these two huge, tattoo covered Russian guys and they were speaking to me in Russian and testing what they taught me earlier and OMG her face :')
Anyway...Random anecdote...
I'm sorry, does it annoy you when I do that?
Mi scusi means excuse me (at least, I hope it does, and I hope it's the right "excuse me" because I tried for AGES to find the right one)
Thank you for reading! ^-^
Reviewers get to take Hanatamago on a walk with Finland and Sweden! (Unless they would rather babysit Sealand with Denmark or get a make-over with Iceland and Norway)
Oh and to the freaking adorable Ninja reviews, I love you! Thank you so much :')
I wish you had an account so that I could thank you more personally, but you don't so the best I can do is reply with my sincere thanks here!
~Ore-sama