Feliciano felt sick. Not only were his lungs getting worse, but he had to stay in the hospital for an unpremeditated amount of time just so the doctors could keep an eye on him. Plus, now on top of his medicine, he needed an inhaler.
Luckily, he was free to roam about the hospital, and spent most of his time in the gardens, or the small playground outside the children's wards.
Lovino was with him as often as he could be, as well as Antonio and Marcello, and Ludwig and Kiku stopped by every day after school, but still. He hated the hospital.
"Feli?"
Feliciano glanced up, smiling at the violet eyes and pale blond hair that greeted him. "Good morning, Tino." he greeted.
Tino, a quiet Finnish man that Feliciano had many a pleasant conversation with, smiled back, seating himself beside the Italian on the small bench. "You're out here awfully early." he commented.
Feliciano just shrugged. He honestly didn't know what the time was, he'd just gotten bored and wandered outside. "How's Peter?" he asked.
Peter was Tino's adopted son. He had been admitted to hospital with what Tino and his partner, Berwald had thought was just a nasty bug. That was three weeks ago, and the doctors still had no idea what was making the child so ill.
Tino sucked in a breath, opening his mouth as if to talk, but then sighed and bit down on his bottom lip, his eyes travelling across the playground to where Berwald was pushing Peter on the swings. "Better." he muttered, with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "He's stopped vomiting so much and is a little more like himself." He stared at his family for a short time before shaking his head and sneakily wiping away the tears that Feliciano had already seen. "How about you? Feeling any better?"
"I've been feeling better for days!" grumbled Feliciano. "I'm just not allowed to go home yet."
"I'm sure they'll let you out soon." chuckled Tino, getting to his feet. "But, for now, why don't you join us on the swings?" He held out his hand with his usual bright smile.
Feliciano smiled back, reaching out and grabbing hold of the Finn's proffered hand. "Yeah, that sounds like fun."
Meanwhile, registration seemed to be taking longer than usual. Or maybe that was the fault of one extremely annoying girl at the front of the class talking complete nonsense.
For the most part, Ludwig was able to tune her out so her voice was just white noise to him. It was only when another slightly less annoying voice chipped in that his attention was drawn back to the conversation.
"You can't say stuff like that!" the other girl whined, looking horrified.
"What?" the first girl snapped. "I just think it's suspicious."
Miss Joyce shook her head. "Feli's not like that." she said.
"Don't you think it's weird, though, Miss? He's off those few days last week, then as soon as he's back, he gets taken home and we don't see him again all week." The girl folded her arms, leaning on the desk. "I reckon he's faking."
Ludwig glared, his fists clenching under the desk as he reminded himself that he really shouldn't hit girls.
"Yeah, because you can fake a serious lung disease!" snapped one of the girls who sat the other side of the room, sarcastically. Ludwig recognised her as one of the girls who was at the cinema with them at the weekend. Michelle, he thought her name was, but he couldn't be sure.
The girl looked over at Michelle with her nose scrunched up in the most unattractive way. "I never said he was faking his disease! He's just making it out to be worse than it is." she countered.
"He's in the hospital."
"He could still be—"
The girl's words were cut of by a sharp toned voice from the back of the class. "Nobody cares what you think."
Ludwig turned to see a girl with long, platinum blonde hair. Her face was fixed into a scowl, violet eyes narrowed and glaring in the annoying girl's direction. "Why don't you lay off?" she growled. "Feliciano hasn't got a bad word to say about anyone, and I don't know anyone who would pick you over him, so the smart thing to do would be to back down before you get yourself into trouble, you pathetic insect."
As if sensing the mood, the bell rang at that moment, and everyone gathered their things and made their way to their first class.
"Nat!" Michelle called, rushing over to the platinum haired girl. "That was so awesome!" she gushed.
"Natalya." the girl corrected. "Don't call me Nat." Then, she picked up her bag and calmly walked away.
After making sure for the fourth time that Antonio and Marcello would be okay running the café by themselves, Lovino took the keys to Antonio's car and said goodbye.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of your baby." he drawled, rolling his eyes.
Antonio pouted, winding his arms around Lovino's waist. "But you are my baby." he cooed, pressing their noses together.
"Say one more thing like that and I'll crash it on purpose." Lovino twisted out of Antonio's grip and headed out the door, warning Marcello to behave.
Giving the usual response of "Yeah, yeah!" Marcello leaned over the counter and continued to flirt with a pretty woman who was just trying to order a muffin.
Why Antonio thought it was a good idea to leave Marcello on the till was a mystery, but Lovino didn't dwell on it, he just climbed into the car and headed towards the hospital.
"Lovino." Nurse Braginskaya greeted him with a smile. "Bang on time, as usual."
Lovino smiled back, giving a brief nod. "How is he?" he asked.
Nurse Braginskaya's smile brightened. "The doctor is thinking of releasing him today." she replied.
"That's good."
Lovino passed by the nurse, making his way towards Feliciano's ward.
Feliciano was sleeping. Curled up under the covers with his thumb in his mouth.
Lovino sighed, shaking his head as he sat in the chair next to the bed. He stared at his brother's sleeping face, a smile on his lips. Somehow, watching Feliciano sleep was bringing back every memory he had of his little brother.
He remembered the time when they were children, back in Italy, before he understood how much weaker than him Feliciano was. He'd invited him out to play football and the younger had collapsed. He'd never seen his grandfather that angry before. That was when he learned how severe Feliciano's illness actually was.
As that memory faded, another entered his mind. When they were both in school, no one was allowed to get near Feliciano without Lovino saying so. He didn't care if the other kids thought he was controlling or weird, he needed to protect his brother, and that's what he was doing!
He remembered moving to the UK and worrying about Feliciano so much that he considered moving back to Italy, just to make sure he'd be okay. And he remembered Feliciano moving over to the UK to be with him and how stupid he'd thought it was back then, but Feliciano was determined to stay.
Lovino would do anything to make sure Feliciano was safe, and he hoped Feliciano knew it. He didn't know what he'd do if he...
"Lovino?"
The elder Italian had been so lost in thought, he hadn't noticed his brother's eyes opening, nor had he noticed the tears leaking down his face.
"What's the matter?" asked Feliciano, pulling himself up and wiping the spittle from his face.
Lovino shook his previous thoughts from his head. "Nothing," he responded, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "Just thinking."
Feliciano crossed his legs, wiping the sleep from his eyes with a yawn. "What about?" he asked.
"It doesn't matter." Lovino smiled. "Hey, good news. You might be able to come home today."
"Really?" Feliciano beamed.
"Actually," chipped in Nurse Braginskaya, awkwardly shuffling into the room. "I just had a word with Doctor Bondevik. He wants a quick chat with Lovino, but after that, he's happy to let you go." She turned to Lovino. "That's actually why I'm here. You remember where his office is?"
Lovino nodded. "Si, I remember. I'll be right back." he said, walking out of the small hospital room and down the hall to the elevator. Doctor Bondevik's office was on the fifth floor, and like hell was he taking the stairs.
The elevator reached his floor, the doors opening to reveal a small man with pale blond hair chewing his nails. His misty, violet eyes were trained on the floor, eyebrows drawn in a look of worry.
Lovino slipped into the elevator beside him and hit the button for the fifth floor. The man either didn't notice or didn't care. He just continued staring at the floor, his hand that wasn't being nibbled was tugging at the oversized jumper that looked like it had been worn for days on end. He'd chewed clean though his nail and was now starting on the skin of his thumb.
"Excuse me," Lovino placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
The man jumped, whipping his head around. "Oh, Feli. I didn't even notice you get in." he chuckled in a weak, croaky voice. He sounded like he'd been crying, and was that a Finnish accent Lovino was detecting?
Lovino raised an eyebrow. "I'm not Feliciano." he stated. "I'm his older brother. My name is Lovino."
"I-I'm sorry!"
"Don't worry about it." Lovino shook his head. "Are you okay?"
The man—whom Lovino had assumed was Finnish—sighed. "Not really." he admitted. "My son is in a pretty bad way. I'm just really worried about him."
Lovino nodded. "I understand." he replied. "Every time Feliciano even needs a check up, I panic. I know it's your son and Feli's my brother, so it's not the same thing, b—"
"Yes, it is." the Finn interrupted, looking up at Lovino with a vacant expression. "You're Feli's legal guardian, right?"
Lovino nodded.
The Finn gave a faint smile. "Then, it's the same thing." he said. "At least, it is to me." He gave another soft sigh, wrapping his arms around himself and clutching the sides of his jumper. "If you ask me, you don't have to be someone's parent to care that much about them. If you're their guardian, their safety becomes your priority, and they become your whole world. You'd do anything for him, wouldn't you?"
Looking down to the floor, Lovino smiled softly. "Yeah." he replied. "I would."
That's when the elevator dinged, the doors opening. "This is my floor." said the Finnish man, stepping out. "I'm glad I spoke to you, Lovino."
"But I didn't say anything comforting or anything."
The Finn smiled. "Sometimes, you don't have to. Any conversation helps."
The doors closed and the elevator carried Lovino up to his floor before either got a chance to say goodbye.
Lovino thought about that man's words all the way to Doctor Bondevik's office and came to the conclusion that he was right. He didn't need to be Feliciano's parent to be as protective as he was. And if anyone thought otherwise, they were wrong!
Reaching Doctor Bondevik's office, he took a deep breath, knocking the door and entering when he heard the quiet "come in" from inside.
Doctor Bondevik looked up from his desk. "Mr Vargas." he stated. "Please, take a seat."
Lovino nodded and sat himself in the chair on the other side of the doctor's desk. He hated talking to Doctor Bondevik. Not that the doctor was an unpleasant man, a little stoic, maybe, but certainly not unpleasant. It was just the fact that there was always the chance of bad news, and Lovino always feared the worst.
Doctor Bondevik pulled Feliciano's file out of his cabinet, flicking through it for a moment before folding his hands on the desk. "Don't look so worried, your brother is fine." he said. "Although, we still have no idea what caused the sudden decrease in his health. It could simply be that he's not responding well to the medication, which is why we've given him the inhaler, as well as the new medicine. All I really wanted to say was make sure he keeps taking it every morning, afternoon and night and that he always has his inhaler to hand."
"Of course." Lovino responded, giving another nod.
With that, the doctor dismissed him, allowing him to go back to Feliciano.
Lovino thanked him, got to his feet and wandered back to Feliciano's room, briefly wondering if he'd run into that Finnish man again.
He didn't. The man had obviously gone back to be with his son.
When he made it down to his brother's room, Feliciano had already gotten dressed and packed his things away.
Lovino chuckled "You ready to go?" he asked.
Spinning around to face his older brother, Feliciano smiled widely. "Si!" he practically sang, slinging his overnight bag over his shoulder. He followed Lovino out to the car, diving into the back and lying across the seats.
After putting Feliciano's bag in the boot, Lovino got in and started up the car, looking in the rear view mirror to make sure he was clear to pull out. "Feli, you know I don't like it when you lie down in the car." he complained.
Feliciano pouted. "But I'm tired!" he whined.
"I don't care. Sit up, please."
Grumbling, Feliciano did as he was told, sitting up and pulling on his seatbelt.
"Hey!" Gilbert greeted as his brother walked through the door. "Is Birdie with you?"
Ludwig frowned. "My day was fine, thanks for asking." he responded, hanging up his jacket.
Gilbert poked out his tongue. "I take it he went home."
"He said he wanted to change out of his uniform and then he'd be over."
"Shame." Gilbert pouted slightly. "I love seeing him in that uniform."
Ludwig visibly bristled. "Can you not?" he hissed, pushing past his brother and heading up to his room. He would never get used to Gilbert dating someone in his year.
Gilbert followed him up. "Wait," he called, sticking his hand out to hold open Ludwig's bedroom door as it was being pushed shut. "I have news for you."
"What?" Ludwig grumbled back, folding his arms.
With a huff, Gilbert leant against the door frame. "Jeez, you don't have to be so moody!" he snapped back. "Anyway, I was over at the café earlier, and you know that Spanish guy, Antonio? He said that your girlfriend is coming home from hospital today."
Ludwig almost smiled, until he realised exactly what Gilbert had said. "Will you stop calling Feliciano my girlfriend?" he growled out.
Gilbert snickered. "I'll stop calling him that if you at least admit that you like him as more than a friend." he replied.
Gilbert didn't think he'd ever seen Ludwig's face go quite that red before. "W-What? D-Don't be absurd, of c-course I don't!" he spluttered, getting redder as he went. "W-Why would I even...? He's... He's Feliciano! He's careless, boisterous, childish and... he sucks his thumb!" he reasoned. He gave a quiet sigh, looking down at his own right hand. "Only the right one, though."
The grin on Gilbert's face couldn't have possibly been any wider at that moment. "The mere fact that you've noticed that proves my point." he chuckled.
Ludwig looked up at his brother with knitted eyebrows, then back down at his hands. With a sigh, he shook his head. "Leave me alone, Gilbert." he muttered, turning away from the elder to sit on his bed.
Gilbert frowned, but did as his brother wished and left the room, closing the door behind him.
End Note: I know I said this was going to be a fun chapter, but I lied. It's actually next chapter that's going to be fun. sorry about that.
Yeah, Norway is the doctor... Sorry if I'm super bad at writing him, I've never done so before.
How do you guys feel about the SuFin family in here? I might make a spin off of them, but I promised Kitty that I'd write something happy, so I'll do that first (plus finish TQoD, The Game and get stared on The Rebels).
~Lolly xXx