You're Seeing Things Again [GerIta Hetalia || APH]

Chapter 23: Doctor's Office

Small footsteps echoed the house. The lack of light was staggering, and nobody was awake at the time. Ludwig stayed downstairs, and as his note instructed, Feliciano came down to him. He had no expression on, if anything, a depressed frown. He felt so numb just by reading the note. He wondered what Ludwig felt—and if it were negative, what would he do?

His soft and delicate face turned down to face the German sitting at the stool. Even with him sitting, Ludwig still showed the height.

Their gazes met, both believed time stopped. It was hard to think for either, they ran emotionless—both. It took a few moments, but Ludwig did his best to speak of something, "Are you...in pain?" He asked simply. This was a generic question that could have many answers.

Feliciano noticeably looked confused. He couldn't hardly tell. Even though thoughts were being manufactured scarcely, he managed to come up with a decent response, "Yes. Mentally and Physically." His simple answer revealed a lot, but also left Ludwig wanting to ask a million more questions—he would attempt not to, however.

Ludwig nodded and examined Feliciano. He did not change out of the clothes from the previous day, so he assumed he either didn't read the note, or didn't care enough to treat his wounds. There was a deafening silence that captured them both in a trace. Ludwig felt some pain deep in his heart; he couldn't help but hurt when he saw his friends suffering.

"Friends" was glazed with a hint of salt. He didn't know if that was the correct word.. best friends? Pals? Besties? Nothing felt right when he called it... he digressed.

But, he couldn't help but stare at all the curls in Feli's hair—the way the strands intertwined mesmerized him. He had such luscious hair and it was a shame he didn't care for it half of the time. He wondered what Feli thought, what was going through his mind. He could feel the distress radiating, almost infecting any surrounding people.

Ludwig pushed up from the chair and moved his hand towards Feliciano. It landed on his shiny locks of curly hair, which caused Feli to visibly jump in surprise. He only got more nervous when Ludwig used his other arm to pull him into a hug. His breath hitched. It was no where near a tight hug, quite delicate, actually. The German's rugged features clearly meant nothing to his gentle heart.

Feliciano quivered and put loose arms around Ludwig. He shoved his face into the crack of the taller male's neck and began to sniffle. He tried to pull back from crying too much and only allowed a certain amount of salty substance to leave his eyes.

He sniffled with a quiet whine, "I'm so sorry," his voice trembled ever-so-slightly as he confided in Ludwig. His quiet sobbing barely filled the house with any noise.

Ludwig was content that Feliciano was letting some of his pain out. He really wanted to talk about it a bit more, but wasn't going to pry too deep if Feli wasn't ready. He didn't want to make him uncomfortable with his questions.

::

It felt like hours before Feli eventually let go. He pushed away from Ludwig, just a bit, to allow for the occasional glances or talking. He kept his head facing the German's chest, as that was almost all he could do.

Feliciano noted Ludwig's muscular features—being latched onto him made it fairly easy. There was still, yet again, a silence that uneased them both. It allowed Feli to stare at the other's chest without having to think of other things...

Wait, why was he staring? Sure, he had a nice body, but nothing to go crazy over. I mean... it wasn't exactly WRONG of him to go crazy over that—was it? It's not like he could see much with the shirt he had on... but it's what he imaged to be there, along with the feeling of being surrounded in it. God damn... it was getting hot.

Feliciano broke away from Ludwig and stumbled back a bit. He kept his head down as he used a chair for slight balance. Ludwig was confused why he leapt away so quickly. He blinked in surprise, "Hey-What happened?" He was concerned he did something wrong or Feliciano started to feel worse.

Feli bit his cheek in thought. He stumbled over his words quite a bit, "I-Uhm... I got—... Hot. It was getting.. warm being that close.." god he was not good at making excuses. He ran fingers through his coarse, messy hair with a sigh.

Ludwig nodded in understanding. In all honesty he didn't think Feli was being truthful, but what was he going to do? He dipped his head starting to conjure a question: "Fel, did you use the bandages and such?" It earned a shake from the receiver. He had not tried fixing himself up yet. Hell, he didn't even change clothes.

Ludwig gently put his own hand on top of Feli's hand. He met his questioning gaze with a soft smile, "I can fix you up. Are you okay with that?" This caused Feliciano to panic a small bit and yank his hand away, "No!"

He didn't feel comfortable with letting Ludwig see at all. He'd probably be angry with all the scars from previous sessions. If not anger, he'd give him pity. That was the worst. He wasn't some fucking dog that just hurt it's paw! He would be fine—!

Maybe.

His eyes darted back and forth on the floor, finding ways to keep his brain busy. The floor pattern got boring after persistent thoughts that deterred him from rejecting Ludwig. He tried to glance up, but Ludwig's hurt and saddened expression tore at him like a whip.

He just kept his head down and tried to talk without stuttering much, "I—...I'm just scared of how you'll react..." he looked up for a brief moment. Ludwig's face showed worry, but not near as much from when he rejected his help.

Feliciano spoke a bit quieter, "It doesn't look good, and I don't want you angry or babying me.." Ludwig nodded in understanding of what he said. The corners of his mouth came slightly up, "Perfect! Let's head to my doctors office."