Every Sunday and Wednesday the prisoners were allowed to write a letter home to relatives. Feliciano would've written to Antonio but he couldn't remember the address. Instead he did what he could do best (besides cooking pasta and dancing), and that was drawing. He looked around for inspiration, as he usually had a model or landscape to use as a reference. Although Francis and Arthur were sat opposite, they were both concentrating on their own papers so Feliciano couldn't see their faces properly. He ended up drawing Lovino, as he had drawn him many times before and knew his facial features almost off by heart. When Francis heard a smooth curve of artistic intent instead of the usual blunt sound of cursives he looked up to see his Italian friend sketching a portrait.

"Do you not want to write to anyone?" Arthur stopped to look up when Francis spoke.

"I do," Feliciano didn't look up. "I can't remember the address. This is to pass the time."

Francis nodded as if to say 'fair enough' and Arthur strained his neck to see the sketch. So far there was a neck, chin and an outline of hair. No facial features, shade or tone had been added but Arthur knew it was the beginnings of a great piece of art.

"Whose it of?" Arthur was curious.

"My big brother, Lovino."

"He's the one you came to find, right?"

Feliciano made a noise of agreement, far too transfixed on his sketching to speak, so Arthur left him to it.

When the hour was up and the men were told to finish off what they were writing, Feliciano stuffed the now finished portrait in his pocket. As they were leaving they had to hand in whatever they had to the officer waiting at the door. Feliciano just put up his hands and spoke incoherent Italian, which confused the officer so he gestured for Feliciano to move on. As soon as they were outside Feliciano skipped to the nearest building and held up the drawing to the wall. Luckily, the fellow prisoner walking by was chewing gum, and sacrificed it so Feliciano could pin up his drawing. This wall soon became Feliciano's wall of portraits. As the weeks went by, Lovino's portrait was soon joined by Antonio's, then Francis' and Arthur's, then a few other prisoners and officers. Feliciano had left a huge gap in the middle of all these portraits, and when asked what would fill it he would answer along the lines of 'something amazing.' Nobody knew what this 'amazing' thing was, not even Feliciano, and he was beginning to run out of inspiration.

One Tuesday in September, it was free time just before lunch. Feliciano decided to find Francis and Arthur, since they seemed to know everything about everything, and Feliciano had something on his mind. After being directed to several different places by several different people, he managed search the whole camp except one place. The showers. As he skipped happily into the showers, he noticed one of the cubicles was occupied. The shower wasn't on though. Feliciano could here some sort of struggle coming from the cubicle, so quickly walked towards it and pulled back the curtain. Arthur and Francis stood semi-naked, quite clearly kissing in a warm embrace. When both men noticed the curtain move, they abruptly pulled away. Arthur drew his gaze to the wall while Francis looked to see who had kiboshed their make-out session. Feliciano, realising who it was and what they were doing, immediately took a step back.

"I'm sorry," He closed the curtains once again. "Just carry on." He turned on his heel and started to walk away. Francis tugged away the curtain and marched to Feliciano, catching his arm. Arthur followed, putting his shirt back on.

"Uh, I'm sorry for intruding," Feliciano squeaked at Francis' sudden movement.

"Feliciano, I need you to promise me that you will tell no one about this. Okay?"

"Okay." Feliciano nodded. Francis sighed, letting his hand go limp and Feliciano's arm go free.

"So how long..?" Feliciano raised an eyebrow.

Francis looked back at Arthur, whose cheeks were still a deep crimson, then to Feliciano again."How long what?"

Feliciano smirked and his eyes flickered from Francis, to Arthur, and back to Francis again. Francis nodded in realisation. "Oh yes," He stretched his arm around Arthur who rolled his eyes at the gesture. "We have been together for quite a while, no?"

Arthur scoffed and shook Francis' arm off his shoulder. "More like a couple weeks."

Francis gesticulated wildly. "But a couple amazing weeks, I'd say." Arthur blushed slightly, but gave Francis a doubtful look anyway. Feliciano smiled at the happy-but-not-so-happy couple. So he was right; they were as close as Antonio and Lovino.

"So you are okay with this, Feli? Man and man, I mean." Francis turned his attention back to Feliciano.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Feliciano cocked his head to the side, honestly perplexed by the question.

Arthur looked confusedly at the Italian's thought process. After all, he had been brought up to think it as unnatural, wouldn't have Feliciano as well? Francis beamed at Feliciano.

"Of course, love is love. Oui?"

Feliciano grinned in agreement. He suddenly felt very tired though, as if all the work and running around he had done since he came to the camp had caught up with him; he had to keep blinking to stop his eyes from going blurry. He felt a sharp pain root in his temples, then disseminate throughout his head. Taking an unbalanced step backwards, he raised a hand to his forehead. Echoes of "are you okay" bounced around inside his head, but everything was suddenly spinning and he couldn't trace where the questions came from. The whole world unexpectedly tilted sideways and Feliciano's face met hard concrete.

A change of scenery. Supposedly a moment before, Feliciano was in the shower chambers. Now he was staring up at a wooden ceiling. Sitting up, he was immediately pushed down again.

"No, you must stay down and sleep." A German doctor with intense blue eyes and golden slicked back hair, sat next to Feliciano's bed. Feliciano regarded him as very handsome, so held up his hand and smiled brightly. The doctor seemed taken aback by the gesture, and Feliciano's brilliant smile, but reluctantly took his hand anyway.

Feliciano shook excitedly while slowly sitting up. "I'm Feliciano, but you can call me Feli. Can you tell me where I am?"

The doctor blinked a couple times at this warm introduction. "Um, we're in the hospital building at the camp. I'm Ludwig, one of the doctors here."

"Oh, nice to meet you. Why am I here, then? What happened?"

"You just fainted of exhaustion, that's all." Ludwig seemed somewhat relieved of this fact. "After a night's rest you will go back to regular work." He now seemed a bit crestfallen. "Just take it easy," Ludwig looked up and half-smiled. "Okay?"

"Okay." Feliciano's breath was taken away and he couldn't stop staring. That one half-smile Ludwig had given him sent him over the moon. He wondered what a full whole hearted smile would mean.

As soon as he was discharged and they were allowed to write a letter home, Feliciano tried to recreate the half-smile he had seen. Somehow he was able to get the portrait almost picture perfect even though he had only seen Ludwig once. He surprised himself, and was very pleased with the outcome. This would be the 'amazing' thing Feliciano had promised for the centre of the wall. It had been stuck proudly with chewing gum just before Feliciano would not be able to sketch anymore. Winter was closing in fast, and the cold was setting into Feliciano's chest quickly. It would not be long until he paid another visit to Ludwig.

To be continued...

Happy Valentine's Day! I thought I'd put this chapter up in time for Valentine's Day, so sorry for the wait.