A/N: Hey! Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it. I know I enjoyed writing it.

I also enjoy reading all of your reviews. They make me so happy to know that people actually like my writing! I always smile like an idiot when I read them. I can't thank you enough for your support.

Disclaimer: I don't own hetalia.

"Lovino! Hey! Dude, over here!"

Lovino let out a grumble of annoyance as he heard Alfred's all too familiar voice calling out to him. "What?" He asked as he balanced his newly bought bag of groceries on his hip and gave the blonde a half hearted glare. He knew the idiota didn't deserve the mean look but it had been a long day for Lovino. He had gotten Feliciano's therapy bill in the mail (for some reason it seemed to be cheaper than usual but still) along with his apartment bill, realized there was absolutely no fucking food in the house so was forced to go shopping, tried to get Antonio to take a fucking bath by himself (the little shit kept on refusing), and found himself throwing out the number of the cashier that she had flirtatiously given to him.

She was cute, too.

So why did he throw the number away? He didn't really fucking know. He felt as if by having it he was betraying someone. But who? Lovino wasn't dating anyone. Not even close. Ugh. It was confusing. And even with the large amount of money he and his brother had gotten from the house being sold it had been enough to pay Francis back and cover the bills for a few months, but it didn't magically make things fan-fucking-tastic for the two Italians.

As for the bath thing with Antonio, that was just a mess. It ended with one French doctor being pushed out of the bathroom, a pissed off and soaked Italian, and a content Spaniard who happily sat still (unlike before) as Lovino sponged him off.

Stupid Antonio.

Alfred grinned and waved Lovino over excitedly, his hands moving so fast they were nearly a blur. "Guess what, dude!"

"What," Lovino responded flatly. His clothes were still damp and he was tired and hungry and uncomfortable. Thank fuck Feli had texted him to say that Ludwig offered to drive him home- again. Lovino hated Ludwig but at the same time he had some hidden gratefulness towards the man. He really did take care of Feliciano and made things a hell of a lot easier for Lovino, intentionally or not.

"Weeellllll," Alfred sang, drawing out the word a bit too long for Lovino's liking.

"Just spit it out, dammit!"

Alfred laughed and held up his hands in a placating manner. "Alright, alright, sorry. It's just that this is some pretty big freakin' news. You're never going to believe this." Alfred swung the laptop that was on the front desk around so Lovino could see the screen. On it was what seemed to be a security video playing. Lovino figured it just have been night because you could see the glow of the lights on in the garage, and they were only on when it was dark. After a few moments of watching nothing Lovino opened his mouth to ask why the hell he was watching this shitty tape but Alfred quickly shushed him. A second later, Lovino found out why.

Sneaking in from a corner was the familiar form of none other than Lovino's ex-boyfriend. Hidden behind his usual mask, Sadiq looked around before strolling over to a familiar looking car- Lovino's.

Lovino frowned in confusion. This morning nothing had been wrong with his car. What the hell was going on?

The man looked around again before he slipped out a baseball bat from underneath his coat. Lovino bit his lip nervously as he took it, swung it up over his car, and... Froze?

Suddenly Sadiq threw the bat to the ground and bolted. He didn't run fast enough though. In the next second a police officer came into the frame, hot on his tail. He tackled him to the ground while other officers quickly came up and surrounded the two. It didn't take long for his mask to be removed and for handcuffs to be clipped around his wrists.

"We got him!" Alfred said as he watched the video the best he could from behind the desk. "I alerted the police about some vandalism going around and they had some officers on look out and bam!" The American grinned widely as he turned the laptop back around to face himself, closing out of the security footage. "Turns out the guy has a ton of other charges, too, and that he's been bribing some officer to keep letting him go. They just got a new boss down at the station though so he was screwed. He's gonna be in jail for a while, isn't that-? Hey? Lovi? Hey, why are you crying?"

"I-I'm not, bastard!" Lovino defended quickly as he quickly scrubbed his eyes with his free hand while Alfred rushed around the counter to see what was wrong.

Nothing was wrong though. Nothing was even close to being wrong. Lovino was crying because he was so fucking relieved. The cause of so many problems in his life was finally where he belonged- behind bars. The bastard fucking deserved it.

Alfred's face softened slightly as he watched Lovino and he suddenly pulled the Italian into a tight hug, making Lovino freeze in shock. "One of the things he's been charged with was harassment," Alfred said with understanding in his voice as he rested his chin on Lovino's shoulder. Lovino stayed stiff for a few more seconds before he finally shifted his groceries down and hugged Alfred back.

He knew that the idiot American was smarter than he really was. Alfred normally wouldn't alert the police about someone going around vandalizing shit over just one car. Alfred must've found out something, but Lovino didn't bother to ask how or why. He was just thankful.

After a few moments Lovino pushed the other away and wiped up his remaining tears (they were manly fucking tears, okay?).

"Y-you're still an idiot, but..." Lovino looked away with a blush. Fuck. He was always awkward with being polite. "Grazie," he finally pushed out.

Alfred laughed and ruffled Lovino's hair, earning an annoyed grumble from the Italian. "No problem, dude. It wasn't all me though, Kiku helped too. Well, I gotta get back to work. See ya!" Alfred gave Lovino a salute as the Italian shook his head and walked towards the elevator. He was still in shock, to be honest. He couldn't believe this. Sadiq was finally gone.

Without realizing it Lovino had walked into the apartment with a smile that day. It didn't even falter when he saw Ludwig and Feliciano making dinner together a little too close to be considered friendly. And if Feliciano happened to take note of his brother's good mood, he didn't comment on it. Instead he called him over so Lovino could taste the sauce he made, acting like it was perfectly fucking normal for Lovino to walk around with red eyes and a smile.

And Lovino was glad for that.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:- Time skip -:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Antonio's speech is getting much better. Soon, you won't even need me anymore," Matthew said jokingly as he took a sip of his coffee, smiling at Lovino from across the café table. They had finally reached a point where they could leave Gilbert and Antonio alone to go have lunch without either of the two freaking out. They couldn't go too far, though, in case something happened, so they stayed in the small café that was in the hospital's lobby. It was cheap and the food wasn't the best but it was better than the cafeteria food.

"Yeah right. He still stutters like crazy and drags out his words and when he gets excited he sounds like a fucking two year old on steroids," Lovino responded with a roll of his eyes. He liked Matthew, after talking a few times they agreed to meet up one day outside of the hospital. He wasn't exactly sure when that would happen, though.

The Canadian's soft laugh brought the nurse from his thoughts. "Maybe," Matthew agreed, "But still. Remember when you first came he wasn't even talking," he pointed out. "People are still trying to figure out how you and Francis did it. Antonio's rate of recovery is the fastest for anyone who had ever had such extensive brain damage."

Lovino shifted uncomfortably at that and took a sip of his crappy tasting coffee. American coffee was shit.

"We didn't do anything, really," he mumbled. And it was true. Lovino couldn't think of anything significant he or Francis did to help Antonio.

Matthew hummed and nodded as he finished off the muffin on his plate. "Well, maybe it was the change of setting then, eh? Maybe he finally decided he was in a hospital he liked." Lovino seriously doubted that, after all it wasn't like this hospital was some amazing fucking hospital. It was an okay one, a little run down and old but it wasn't terrible. But.. It wasn't fantastic either.

The blonde across from him checked his watch before finishing the rest of his coffee. "We better go up soon. I know we left Francis to check on the two but for some reason I don't think that was the best idea," Matthew said as he stood up.

"Si, we should go," Lovino agreed, not bothering to finish his own coffee as he stood up as well. Matthew offered him a smile.

"Let's go then," he said and Lovino nodded as he followed him to the elevator.

"So, Lovino," Matthew said as he hit the up button. "What kind of movies do you like?" He asked.

"Movies?" Lovino repeated, blinking. "Um... I guess I like action. O-or romance. Sometimes. B-but only really fucking manly forms of romance!" Lovino stuttered out with a blush.

Matthew laughed at this and rolled his eyes as he stepped into the elevator, Lovino close behind.

"Calm down, eh? I was just wondering if you wanted to see a movie this weekend," he said. "And I happen to know there's an action movie with some romance in it that's out," he said. "And it's very manly romance," he added in a teasing voice.

"Shut up," Lovino grumbled as he pressed his hands to his cheeks to cool them down. "But... Yeah. That sounds fun," he added.

Matthew smiled brightly. "Great!" He said as he stepped out of the elevator, heading towards Antonio's door. "I'll pick you up at seven on Saturday?"

"Is seven thirty okay?"

"Seven thirty," Matthew confirmed as he opened Antonio's door. "Well then, it's a date!" He said while stepping in.

Immediately three heads snapped towards them. It seemed like Antonio and Gilbert (probably mostly Gilbert) had managed to tie Francis up with some bed sheets and were now beating him up with pillows, which obviously wasn't hurting but was messing up the doctor's hair, which seemed to be the main reason for his distress.

"Dat-te?" Gilbert echoed, tilting his head as he dropped the pillow he was holding. It landed on Francis' head, earning a distressed wail from the French doctor.

Lovino rolled his eyes as he walked up to Francis, pushing the pillow off his head. "Si, me and Matthew are going somewhere this weekend. What's it to you?" He huffed as he worked on the clumsily tied bed sheets.

Gilbert opened his mouth to reply but before he could Antonio interrupted him. "B-buuut Tommma-a!" He whined, looking crushed for some reason. As he dropped his own pillow Lovino caught a sight of the bracelet he had gotten him. Antonio refused to take it off now.

"What?" Lovino asked as he finally loosened the knots enough for Francis to get free and scramble to the bathroom to fix his hair.

"Y-youu... Y-you can't..." Antonio trailed off, obviously not knowing what he was going to say. He looked like he was about to burst into tears.

Matthew gave Gilbert and Antonio a strange look. "What's with you two?" He asked. "You seemed to be fine before we walked in."

"A-and before y-you said you had-d a d-date," Gilbert muttered bitterly under his breath. He was now glaring at Lovino. Lovino returned the glare.

"Why is that such a big fucking deal?" He shot back as he pushed Antonio back onto the bed (he was dangerously close to the edge and he didn't want the idiot to fall off).

"B-because... I..." Gilbert looked down before suddenly looking up and bursting out. "Because I like Matthew!" Which was probably the clearest sentence Lovino had ever heard the bastard speak.

There was a silence for a minute before Matthew suddenly squeaked out a small "W-what?"

Gilbert moved from his frozen position on the bed, quickly scrambling over to the Canadian and taking his hands in his own pale ones.

"M-Mattie... Please d-don't go o-on a date with h-him," Gilbert said slowly, squeezing his hands and looking into the shocked Canadian's eyes. "I o-only want you to g-go on dates with me," he said, taking a shaky breath.

Matthew continued to look at him for a second before he gave a soft laugh. "Gilbert... Me and Lovino weren't going on a date. Or at least, not like that. We were just going to hang out," he said in a teasing voice as he moved his hands to intertwine their fingers.

A red hue spread over Gilbert's pale cheeks as he looked down in embarrassment. "O-oh... Then I-I-"

"But," Matthew continued, cutting him off. "I... I like you too," he said as he pressed their foreheads together and nuzzled his nose against the albino's.

A bright grin spread over Gilbert's face and he wrapped his arms around Matthew's waist suddenly, swinging him around in a hug while Antonio clapped and Lovino rolled his eyes.

"Oh! This is so cute!" A French voice gushed. It seemed like Francis was finally done fixing his appearance and was now watching the two. "I knew this was going to happen. The French are never wrong about love," he said dramatically, placing a hand over his heart and swooning.

Matthew rolled his eyes at this and laughed as he rested his head against Gilbert's chest once he had stopped spinning them.

"Of course Francis," he said dryly. "The French are never wrong."

Antonio laughed.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:- Time skip -:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"I-I'mmm sooo hap-py about G-Gil annd Matt-tie," Antonio chirped the next day, turning his head over his shoulder slightly to smile brightly at Lovino.

"I figured you would be, bastard."

"Afft-after all, I-I woullld b-be upset if sssomeone sss-stole Lovi," Antonio added in a light voice as he faced forwards again. "Ss-so I'm g-glad Gilll d-distracted him."

Lovino blinked, wide eyed and blushing as he paused in his movements, the sponge he was holding frozen on the particular spot on Antonio's bath.

What the hell did Antonio just say?

Was he... Was he seriously fucking glad that Gilbert asked Matthew out only because he thought Matthew was trying to steal him? What the hell did that even mean? Steal from who?

After a questioning hum from Antonio as to why the movements started Lovino shook himself and started again. The two of them were alone now, like the usually were now. Since Antonio had gotten more stable Francis was free to go have other patients. However, Lovino wasn't. Antonio didn't like the idea of it and threw a tantrum the first couple of times Francis had tried to explain that Lovino may be seeing other patients soon and wouldn't be spending as much time with Antonio. After the Spaniard ended up breaking his wheelchair during one of these fits they decided it would be best to just let Lovino stay with him for the time being.

Today was a bath day, and a hair cut day. To be honest, Lovino had kind of liked Antonio's hair looking a little shaggy. It was kind of hot. W-well, we would think that someone else would think it was hot! Y-yeah! Not him, of fucking course. He would never think that. Ever. Really.

But now it was shortened to small, loose curls that framed the patient's face nicely. Lovino thought Antonio liked it because he kept on shakily running his hand through it while smiling brightly.

"Well, I'm just fucking glad they finally admitted they liked each other," Lovino grumbled. He could tell every time the two were together how much they adored the other. Matthew had been coming a lot lately, actually. It seemed like Antonio had hit a block in his speaking. Sure, he was speaking sentences people could understand now but he wasn't getting any better. He would hesitate and stumble and trip over words. Matthew said he just needed to have confidence and more practice.

Antonio hummed and nodded as he relaxed under Lovino's touch. Lovino could tell the bastard really fucking enjoyed this. Honestly Antonio could be taking baths by himself right now, or even sponge himself off for the most part by himself, but he always insisted that Lovino did it. And... Well, Lovino would be lying if he said he minded.

After all ( and this would only be him thinking if he actually happened to be attracted to the bastard which he was not), Antonio had a nice fucking body. It was toned, soft from years of laying in bed but not exactly fat. Ludwig had been working him hard. His hands were still shaky but he was now slowly and painfully learning to walk.

"I've never seen a patient work this hard to recover," Ludwig had told Lovino one say as they watched Antonio grip the handles of a walker and stare at his feet in determination. "It's very unusual."

It had reminded Lovino of what Matthew had said too.

Lovino sighed and brushed off those thoughts as he finished sponging down Antonio's back. "Okay bastard, you're finished," he said as he placed the sponge aside and got his clothes. After Antonio got dressed (he could now put on the clothes by himself but couldn't button or zipper things to save his life), Lovino managed to get him back out to his bed.

As he helped the other sit up and get comfortable he thought about Matthew's advice. Practice. Well, there's no time like the present.

"Antonio?"

"Hm?"

"Can you tell me more about your life in Spain?" He wanted to say before the accident, but he didn't want to bring up any memories so he kept it simple. After all, it wasn't until after the crash that he was moved out of his own country.

Antonio blinked a few times before smiling. "O-of courssse!" He chirped as he clumsily patted the space on the bed next to him, encouraging Lovino to sit down.

Lovino let out a sigh but sat down as Antonio scooted over for him. When Lovino glanced over Antonio's head was tilted back and he was looking at the ceiling in thought. "Hmmm..." He closed his eyes as he began talking.

"I-I had a houssee... I-it wasss on-nn the beach," Antonio said in a softer than usual voice. Lovino tilted his head as he observed the other's face. It seemed to be softer too, in a way.

"I-it wass y-yellow," the Spaniard recalled. "A-and I had a... I-I had a t-tomm..." He trailed off and wrinkled his nose as he tripped over the word. "T-tomato garden," he finally got out. A smile had slipped onto his face. "A-and I had-d a sssmall g-gato, h-he was mmuy l-lindo, n-named R-rojo," he continued before falling silent for a few moments.

"I... I-I wonder w-what happennned t-to him," Antonio said suddenly, and when Lovino looked at his face he saw that he was crying silently, the tears falling down his face without making a sound.

Without thinking Lovino shifted closer to Antonio and wrapped his arms around him in a hug. The spaniard clung to the nurse shakily, the tears continuing until they became sobs as he buried his face in Lovino's shoulder.

Lovino knew it must've been hard for Antonio. After all, he had been in Spain his whole life only to be forcibly removed when he was too weak to protest. He had never been in this country before, he probably never even wanted to fucking come here. He left behind his yellow house on the beach and his tomato garden and his cat even though he didn't want to.

"I-I misss it," Antonio sobbed into Lovino's shirt.

"I know, bastard," Lovino said softly as he petted his hair. "I know."