A/N: Hello! I was inspired to write this from... Well, I don't know where, but I really liked the idea and since no one else (that I know of) has written anything like it, I decided to give it a try. Sorry for any mistakes, and I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own hetalia.

"Nurse Vargas?"

Lovino looked up from his clip board, pen poised in the air as he looked at the person calling him. He noticed the corner of the person's mouth (they had a double chin so it didn't look too good) turn up slightly into a smirk.

Of course; yet another person finding it amusing that a male was a nurse. Was it really that hard to believe? Placing the pen down at the top of the clipboard, Lovino tilted his head at the other and tapped his foot in an impatient manner, his pale blue uniform wrinkling slightly.

"Oh, right," the woman said, brushing some obviously bleached hair out of her face with sausage fingers that were painted an obnoxiously bright red. She had been taking so long to answer because she had been chomping on her gum as she checked Lovino out, and now the smirk on her face was even bigger.

Yes, Lovino was aware that the uniforms in the hospital were rather... Feminine. The scrubs were pastel blue with purple trimming, his nametag having a backround of purple flowers. This led to many people (including other nurses, those stupid bitches) making fun of him. He had learned to shrug it off over the years. He needed this job, he couldn't afford to get fired.

She cleared her throat, dull brown eyes darting down to her own clipboard as she scanned over her notes. "Your last patient, Mr. Kirkland, has been transferred, correct?" She asked, her red pen tapping impatiently on her clipboard, making an annoying clacking sound.

"Si, he had recovered and has been sent to the other hospital for further testing. I believe Doctor Bonnefoy is there with him today, actually..." The Italian trailed off at the look the woman was giving him. It was one that clearly read that she didn't give a fuck about the details, just say yes or no.

"Which is why you have to start taking care of his new patient. You two do work together, right?" She barely waited for the nurse's nod before she shoved some papers at him. Lovino inwardly shuddered. Her sausag- /fingers/ had brushed against his. "His room number is 485. He's had serious brain damage for the past three years, we highly doubt he'll recover," she said in a bored voice.

"That's messed up. Can't we do anything?"

She looked up sharply from her process of re-closing the clipboard without chipping a nail, a sneer on her painted on lips. "The /doctors/ have been working on it for three years. If they haven't been able to do anything then, they won't be able to do anything now," she exclaimed with a huff. "He recently transferred here, the other hospital was too full. He has no family to protest the move," she stated as she started to turn away.

"...bitch.." the auburn hair man muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Lovino said quickly as he looked down at the papers. He scanned over the several numbers that were printed in small, black ink. The man was 26, only a year older than Lovino himself.

/It's sad that such a horrible thing happened to him at such a young age. He probably had dreams he wanted to accomplish. A higher job position, moving into a new apartment, hell, maybe he even had a girl he had a crush on and was planning on asking her out before he got into this mess.../

Lovino shook his head, tucking the notes under his arm as he continued walking. He didn't get why he was thinking so much about this patient anyways. He turned towards the stairs, scowling up at the trip to come. Damn room was on the fourth floor and the elevator was broken. Stupid engineers couldn't do their job of their life depended on it. Every time Lovino had walked by the rather burly group of men, they were flirting with whichever women, or, on occasion, men were in the room. To make matters worse, the boss of the group always insisted on smoking inside the fucking hospital, which really just pissed Lovino off.

Smoking in a hospital? /Really?/

After a few more minutes of him climbing up the hard metal stairs and cursing the engineers in charge of fixing the fucking elevator, Lovino opened the thick door that led into the hallway.

The floor was white tile, lined with white walls that led to white ceilings. Metal carts with hospital food and medicine lined the hallway, giving it a rather unappealing smell. Wrinkling his nose, Lovino started heading down, looking into the rooms where the light brown wooden door was open. Nurses in identical uniforms to Lovino and the occasional doctor were in the rooms, bent over frail and broken figures with various medicle instruments. The people in the beds were powerless to protest, their minds and body too damaged to grasp what was going on.

An aged lady sat on a wheelchair in one of the rooms, wearing the typical white gown patients were required to wear. Her dull gray eyes stared lifelessly out the window, her thin lips gaping. A kind nurse, one of the few Lovino was friends with, was in the corner of the room, setting up the woman's breakfast.

"Ciao, Bella," Lovino said as he passed, lifting a hand to give a half wave to the blonde in the room. The nurse looked up and have her typical cat like smile, her green headband making her eyes stand out.

"Hello, Lovi! I'm just helping Ellie here with her brea- Oh no, Ellie dear, don't do that! Sorry, Lovi," the blonde quickly apologized as she hurried over the the frail woman, gently taking her away from the window she had been trying to lean out of.

"It's ok, I have to leave anyways. Me and Dr. Bonnefoy have a new patient," Lovino said as he stepped away from the room and gave the Belgian nurse a small smile before heading down the white hallway.

"Bye, Lovino!" She called after him. Lovino could hear the sounds of the rubber wheel of the wheelchair roll towards the bed, and the gently murmuring of Bella as she started to feed the elderly lady her food.

Lovino walked past a few more doors until he came to a stop at the one with 485 next to it in white letters on a black plaque. It was written in Braille underneath, and Lovino absentmindedly lifted a hand to run a finger over the raised dots before dropping his hand to the door handle and pushing open.

The room was dim, seeing as the plain tan curtains were pulled close. The faint outline of a figure laying in bed could be seen, their steady breath causing the thin pale blue blankets to rise then lower every few seconds. A metal cart with the man's breakfast was parked off to the side. With a small sigh, Lovino walked over to the curtains and yanked them open. He didn't get why the other doctor's and nurses insisted on keeping them sealed shut; it made the rooms even more depressing than they already were. As soon as the light filtered in, the figure on the bed shifted.

Lovino turned around to see chocolate brown curls facing him; the man was on his side. He had broad shoulders and strong looking shoulder blades that the hospital gown fell over. Lovino headed over, pressing the button on the side of the bed that raised it. As the metal frame started to lift up, the figure shifted again and the man's face came into view.

Half lidded, bright green eyes trailed over the room, coming to a stop on the Italian's face. Thin lips were parted, a thin trail of saliva falling from them onto a strong, tan jawline and setting into the man's thick, and rather soft, looking cocoa locks that were long enough to be pulled back. Lovino guessed that no one bothered to give the man a hair cut while he was here.

An almost questioning rumble came from the man as his mouth fell open even more, the light pink tip of his tongue hanging out of his mouth as his one hand curled and uncurled as he tried lifting it out towards Lovino.

A little confused, the nurse cautiously walked towards the patient, curious as to why he was trying to move his arm towards him. When he was close enough, Antonio's hand jerked forwards, falling on top of Lovino's wrist.

Letting out a small cry of surprise, Lovino jerked his wrist back. He knew that people with brain damage couldn't always control their actions, and former patients that Lovino had treated had been... Violent.

Antonio's hand dropped and he turned his head to the side, a small sigh escaping his parted lips. Lovino watched him for a minute before coming closer. His hand was still curling and slowly uncurling at his side. Lovino was at the side of the bed when Antonio jerked his rather large hand, or at least, large in comparison to Lovino's, towards Lovino's own hand and covered it.

Remaining calm this time, Lovino looked down with wide eyes as the warmth of Antonio's hand coated his and the man gave a single jerk-up and down-of his hand, making Lovino's own hand move up and down as well. Then he released the nurse's hand and let his tan one flop back onto the white pillow, causing small wrinkles to appear on the fabric.

Lovino blinked in surprise, looking down at his olive toned hand that the other had just...shook? The Italian shook his head a little. Was that... Antonio's version of a handshake? He peered curiously at the tan figure, but he made no movement on the bed, save for the occasional shift of a limb or a muttered sound coming from his gaping lips.

Shaking the gesture off a little, Lovino headed towards the breakfast cart. He wrinkled his nose a little as he neared it-hospitals aren't exactly known for their five star meals. Small, styrofoam disposable plates were stacked on the cart, each one containing a rather small portion of food. Soggy eggs covered in plastic wrap, some watery looking apple sauce, Lovino didn't even know what the hell that was but it looked like jam...maybe, and a few pieces of cut up, soft toast sat, waiting to be eaten. Or tossed into a toxic waste factory. Lovino prefered the latter. The food not only looked unappetizing, but was emitting an oder that would make anyone in their right of mind (no pun intended) make a run for it, possibly stopping in the bathroom or any room with a garbage can along the way to throw up a little before resuming their running away from the horrible food.

Unfortunately, Lovino couldn't do that. Trying not to make too bad of a face at the 'breakfast' the hospital had provided for Antonio, he wheeled the cart over. The man's head turned, his eyelids flickering. Lovino cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"S-so. Hi, Antonio. I read somewhere, probably in some medical textbook or some shit, I don't know, that people with certain types of brain damage can remember their time in the hospital. So let's get some things straight." Lovino cleared his throat, flushing at the thought of talking to a man in Antonio's condition like this, but continued anyways.

"My names Lovino Vargas. And no, I'm not your fucking doctor-oh, by the way, tell anyone I was swearing while talking to you I'll castrate you with one of those plastic forks from the cafeteria, and let me tell you. It will not be pretty."

As he spoke, the Italian started to walk to the side of the bed, reaching under to take out the metal table attached to it. He made sure Antonio was sitting up more as he set and locked the table in front of him, in case the man tried to knock it away. "Oh. You're probably wondering who I am then, huh," Lovino said, not expecting an answer as he gingerly lifted the bowl of soggy applesauce onto the table.

"Well, I'm your fucking nurse. And when you recover-that's right, I said /when/ not /if/, bitch-you better not make fun of me for being a nurse or, well, I believe we discussed what I could do with a plastic fork.

Speaking of plastic utensils, Lovino opened a package of a fork, butter knife, spoon, and a spork. He placed the spoon next to the apple sauce and turned back to the cart to take the eggs. "Your doctor, he's a perv, by the way, is making final tests on a recently recovered patient today. You'll probably meet him tomorrow," Lovino said, setting the plate of toast down next to the eggs and grabbing the jam...jelly...human brain that was purple and jiggling looking thing and placing it across from the toast.

Peeling the plastic wrap back from the apple sauce, Lovino continued talking. Although now it was more to make himself feel less lonely than to 'get things straight' with Antonio. "Anyways, sorry for the food... Im not allowed to say I dislike it here, but I think we both know what I really think of it." Lovino's eyes flickered to Antonio's half closed ones, then he looked back down to the eggs he had now impaled with a fork. "Well...maybe... If you can tell or not, I don't know..." he mumbled.

It was unclear in the notes as to what kind of brain damage Antonio had. The tests didn't specify whether or not he was going to be mentally challenged for the rest of his life, or if he had just damaged a part of his brain that limited his physical capabilities, including talking and full control of his limbs.

"Anyways, time to eat up. At least this shit's full of nutrients and what not. Can't exactly work out at the hospital to keep in shape..." he mumbled as he scooped up some eggs onto the fork. The pale yellow pieces fell apart from each other, slipping off the fork but managing to cover it in a fine yellow slime. Huffing in frustration, Lovino tried again, stabbing the pieces of slippery eggs before looking at Antonio.

The man's mouth was already open, so that wouldn't be a problem. The Italian nurse could only hope that the tan man could control himself enough to chew and swallow. Lovino cleared his throat.

"Ok, Mr. Carriedo. Time to eat," he said as he lifted the fork to the thin lips of the patient, lifting his other hand to gently close Antonio's mouth around the fork. He waited a few seconds to see if the man would react. For a split second he was afraid he wouldn't remember how to chew, and then Lovino would have to go and get a doctor to come and hook him up to yet another machine just so the man could get all his nutrients and other important shit that your body needs through a tube.

Sure, hospital food is, well, just plain horrible, but still. Lovino would prefer if his patients at least got to eat real food. Food with texture and taste-no matter how bad-and left you feeling full.

Suddenly, the man's emerald eyes seemed to register something, and while Lovino waited with a nervous expression, he started moving his jaw. Slowly, Lovino felt the man start to mechanically chew around the fork, which left Lovino free to slip it out and scoop some more eggs up as he watched Antonio swallow.

"I-it's a good thing you know how to eat still," Lovino stated as he slipped the fork into the parted lips again. As soon as he slipped it out, he reached for a napkin to wipe the mixture of eggs and drool off the patient's chin.

"I know the food tastes like crap... I used to be in the hospital too, you know," Lovino kept talking, mumbling his words. The quietness of the room was unnerving, and he felt like he should at least try to make things more interesting for Antonio.

"But you don't want to hear about that," he said as yet another forkful of eggs was deposited into Antonio's mouth. "After all, you have enough to worry about. Well, kind of. Maybe. I don't really know... But your life was probably hell of a lot better before you came here," Lovino stated a he tried scooping up more eggs, only to feel the fork scraping the styrofoam bottom of the plate. Releasing an annoyed huff, Lovino placed the fork down on top of the plate, his hand then going towards the applesauce.

"Anyways, I should tell you about your doctor before you meet him. He's French, blonde, and a total pervert," Lovino said as he lowered the spoon into the liquid-solid-mixture thing. The applesauce was runny and it took Lovino a few tries to get a decent spoonful. After he did he held it up, only to find Antonio's lips sealed shut.

Lovino sighed and placed the spoon down. "Come on now, Mr. Carriedo. Open up." Nothing. The lips stayed shut. Lovino lifted a hand, pulling slightly at his jaw. A small sound came from the man, but he didn't open. "You have to eat. It's good for you, and you're probably hungry and all that shit."

Still nothing.

Lovino scowled and shook his head, standing up. "Well, I can't exactly blame you. The food here's horrible. You ate enough, but you better eat more at lunch today," Lovino said as he lifted the remaining dishes up and dumped them oh so gracefully into the black garbage bin next to the bed.

"Well, according to all the tests, you're stable for now. I'll be back at lunch," Lovino said as he picked up his clipboard, jotted a few notes down, and turned to leave.

If he had turned around, he would have noticed a large, rather goofy smile messily find its way onto Antonio's face. One hand jolted upwards as he let it away from side to side; his own little form of waving goodbye. But Lovino had left by then, his head ducked low over his notes as he tried to ignore the snickering of the other nurses as he walked by towards yet another patient.