Chapter 1
Feliciano sat beside his legal guardian, who he always had to address as Mr. Edelstien, though this man and his long-term girlfriend had been caring for him and his little brother for several years. Mr. Edelstien had been giving he and his older twin piano lessons for years. Of course, Romano loathed them and preferred visiting the Carriedos next door to assist Antonio with his garden, something Mr. Edelstien disliked because Romano would return home dirty. However, Feliciano's older brother was quite rebellious, and proceeded anyway.
Feliciano began to practice his keying in a few small exercises when Elizabeta came into the room. Feliciano, despite being a boy, dressed like Eliza. Mostly because he enjoyed wearing the skirts that his slightly crazy parents made him and his brother wear as children; when the boys were born, their parents had wanted girls. Upsetted by their chances (and unable to have more children due to difficulties during the twins' births) they simply dressed their sons like the high-class daughters they wanted and passed them off as such. When they'd had a freak accident and died when the boys were seven, the twins were passed off to a family friend seeing how their grandfather was too busy to care for them. Mr. Edelstien and Miss Elizabeta were happy to take them in and while Eliza was quick to pick up on the boy's true gender, Mr. Edelstien remained oblivious to Feliciano's true gender because while Romano abandoned the little girl act as soon as he had access to boy's clothes, Feliciano kept the dress, instead favoring the adorable ruffles and frilly skirts and hair bows on special occasions. Eliza was content to let him live how he wanted, and Feliciano preferred it that way.
So while Romano was off next door, Feliciano was at the piano when Eliza spoke.
"Um... Roderich? We have a bit of an issue..." she said.
Mr Edelstien looked up and said in an always-arrogant-sounding accent that could've been German for all Feliciano knew, "What is it, can't you see I'm with the piano?"
"I'm sorry, but we seem to be short on coffee and I need a little money to shop for some more..." Eliza said respectfully. Romano had questioned how she has "been able to stand that arrogant prick" for so long, and honestly Feliciano sometimes found himself wondering the same thing. Mr. Edelstien simply nodded and handed her a bit of money.
"That's it for the rest of the week, so please make it stretch." His girlfriend nodded and prepared to leave the room and hesitated, turning back.
"Feli, would you like to join me?" she asked.
Feliciano clutched at his skirts and looked at Mr. Edelstien hopefully. The brunette with a single curl looked at Feliciano through his glasses with an exasperated expression.
"Fine, go on. We can practice before dinner." With a gleeful squeal Feliciano leapt from the bench and hurried after his favorite person in the house besides his brother. He skipped alongside Eliza on the way to the store, humming a song he learned as a toddler about the earth being a big circle that everyone lived on relatively peacefully.
"Miss Eliza, I love walking to the store," the cheerful cross-dresser practically sang. Eliza smiled at him sweetlly.
"I enjoy spending time with you, too, Feliciano."
Feliciano let out a small 've' as a verbal tick he's had forever, and proceeded the walk to the store, taking care to step around the puddles from the rain the day before, knowing Mr. Edelstien wouldn't be pleased. As they passed the usual store they used, Feli gave Eliza a confused look.
"Where are we going?" he asked. Eliza smiled.
"We are going to be using the less expensive store on the low class side of town. I don't really have enough to buy a good sized can because you know how stingy your eh... Roderich... gets sometimes. So I'm going to get a larger can of the exact same brand somewhere cheaper. Understand?" she asked. Feli nodded and went back to humming and trying to balance on a curb when a bright red convertible started to drive toward them and stopped just in time to avoid dousing the two pedestrians. The wavy, shoulder length blonde hair that was tied back along with the thousand watt smile shining from its place above a stubbly chin gave away the person before the black sunglasses were lowered so Francis Bonnefoy could wink at the Italian girl that has had his attention since sixth grade. Feliciano smiled politely.
"Bonjour, Miss Feli- how are you this day?" he asked courteously. Felicano was forced to wave shyly when Eliza gently nudged him closer to the car; she and Roderich highly approved of Feliciano's being courted by the local high-class boys in the nice part of town where they resided. Feliciano was always a bit intimidated by the thought of them finding out he wasn't really a girl, but while Roderich was unaware of this issue, Eliza said they would love him enough to look over that fact by the time they could get intimate so long as Feli didn't let them get that far until he was absolutely positive they were in a position where Feli was seeing that one exclusively for an extended time, like herself and Mr. Edelstien.
"I am well. How are you, Francis?" Feliciano said quietly, offering his hand politely for the other to take.
"Ah, ma Cherie I cannot hear you," Francis said, kissing Feliciano's hand. "But I am well, if that was what you were wondering."
"That's good news to hear," Feliciano said, already tiring of this conversation. After all, Francis was one of his more persistent suitors... he was always visiting the Edelstien home to bring Feliciano small gifts like flowers or chocolate and sit and chat until he was offered to stay for the nearest meal time, where he would eat and make slightly awkward and polite table chat with Feliciano, who was flattered at first but was now getting tired of it quickly. Antonio's mother and Elizabeta were trying to arrange for Antonio to be one of Feliciano's suiters, which was a much better option than Francis to Feliciano (who was regarded highly in Roderich's opinion in comparison to Antonio, who was a bit less likely to be a big businessman in favor of his gardening hobby.)
"If I may ask, how would you, Ms. Elizabeta, and Mr. Edelstien like to join my family for dinner at my home Thursday evening?" Francis requested.
"That would be very nice," Eliza said, stepping in to Feliciano's relief (though her response was more stressing than standing there in awkward silence.)
"Yes, thank you, Francis..." Feliciano mumbled. Francis smiled.
"Great. Dinner will be at seven- I'm looking forward to it."
"As will we, Francis. This has been pleasant, but Feliciano and I must be on our way."
"Yes, Madame~ thank you for gracing me with your presence, Miss Vargas. I hope you have a wonderful day."
"Yes, thank you... And you have a pleasant day, also," Feliciano said with a final smile and a wave as Francis began to pull away. Once he was gone Feliciano sighed and went back to following Elizabeta as she went on about how nice a boy Francis was in comparison to Gilbert Bielshmidt (who was yet another one of Feli's suitors, only there because his family was ridiculously wealthy and he was due to be the person to take over his father's multi-million dollar company. He was considerably rude and had an enormous ego, one that Feliciano was not a fan of.)
As they reached the store, Eliza went about to find the coffee while Feli got particularly distracted by a lovely picture of a model advertising for some sort of makeup on the front of a magazine.
Feliciano wondered what it would be like to have Mr. Edelstien permit him to wear such bright colors on his lips (however a clear gloss was the only thing he was ever allowed ouside of holidays and dates with suitors along with any cover up that was needed in case of a horrendous blemish or the occasional mascara to be presentable in public on a regular basis.)
As Feliciano looked out he caught sight of an adorable cat. He loved felines, but due to Mr. Edelstien's allergies they were only allowed one that didn't enjoy socializing with people. He wandered outside to pet it.
As he approached, it began to trot away. Feliciano followed at a trot, only to trip at the corner of the block and fall. Seeing the dirty puddle approaching he closed his eyes and cried out in anticipation of the pain of the ground and sopping filthy wetness of the water. But it never came.
Instead, he felt something holding the back of his dress firmly and an arm snake under his ribcage to put him back on his feet.
"You might want to be careful of your step, miss. The sidewalks aren't as even as your part of town," a heavy German accent said.
Feliciano looked at his savior with a mix of surprise and gratitude (but mostly surprise because-
There, standing before him was an extremely tall, handsome blonde-haired, light-blue-eyed, man that looked barely familiar, like perhaps he had seen him before. The man looked about Feliciano's age and Feliciano was fairly intimidated by all the muscles and the broad shoulders and that piercing blue gaze...
"T-thank you," Feliciano managed, clutching at his skirt. The other simply nodded and turned to walk the other way when Feliciano remembered- he'd glimpsed this person leaving the public school while on his way home from his own private acadamy for the upper-class part of town.
"W-wait," Feliciano called shyly. The blonde stopped and looked back. He grunted in response, to ask what it was that the rich girl he'd saved wanted. Didn't the wealthy have enough already?
"I... I wanted to know your name... s-so I could thank you properly," Feliciano said.
"It's fine."
"But..." The other sighed.
"My name is Ludwig," he said, trying to hide his exasperation. "Ludwig Beilshmidt. Not at all related to that high-class prick, at least not directly." Ludwig had had enough experience with the other Beilshmidt boy in town- that one was always demanding something of him. Ludwig worked as a carpenter with his father sometimes and that albino jerk was always requesting something and then criticizing what was done and then demanding a redo and always something...
Feliciano was surprised at the language that came from the other's mouth about Gilbert. Not that he disagreed, but he always thought that it would've been more proper for Ludwig to not use such foul language in the presence of a lady... or someone passing themselves off as a lady.
"Oh... well... thank you, Ludwig. If I may, I'd like to-" Feliciano began when the other cut him off.
"I'm not interested in money. I would prefer to work for my earnings."
"Oh... Then could I give you something else?" Curiosity getting the better of Lud, (something that rarely happened) he stopped.
"Like what?"
"... Friendship?" Feliciano asked, not sure what else he could've offered. Ludwig looked at him, slightly confused.
"What?"
"I would like to be your friend."
"What would a rich girl like you possibly want with being friends with someone like me?" Ludwig asked, the words coming out a bit more harshly than he meant; in truth, he had no real friends. He was usually too busy trying to push himself, so that he may be able to escape the state of near-poverty he and his father resided in since most of his family's earnings went into bills and beer. Ludwig saved whatever he could in hopes to invest it in other things like emergencies, or the occasional luxury of a movie at the theater or something.
Feliciano took a small step back at the lash of the words, but held out a hand to the other teen to participate in a handshake, something only Romano and Mr. Edelstien would do because Feli was a "lady" and handshakes were considered improper.
Ludwig looked at it quizically and his mouth twitched up slightly without his permission. to be fairly honest this girl was pretty cute, and though rich and annoying (due to his bias against the wealthy,) he did like the thought of having a friend. So he just shrugged.
"Ja, sure." Ludwig was about to turn and walk away as a grin split Feliciano's face, and he rushed forward to take Ludwig's hand.
"I'm so glad you agreed- you know, you were really scary at first but you seem pretty nice even though you're bigger and sort of scare me still! Hey, can I have your phone number? I'd like to talk to you some more but I dont know where I could find you to chat, you know?" Feliciano began in a long stream that shocked Ludwig. How could someone so cute and quiet suddenly start talking at 100 miles an hour?!
"Er..." was all the blonde could manage at the girl holding his arm.
"You know, I sort of got a little lost chasing a cat; do you think you could show me back to the grocery store? And I really would like to have your number." Ludwig fumbled in his pockets after taking a moment to get over his initial shock to hand the talkative girl one of his father's business cards; his father never answered the phone anymore because he was usually too drunk. Feliciano grinned at the slightly dirty slip of paper handed to him, and he tucked it into the pocket of his flowy knee-length green dress (which had bloomers underneath as to avoid exposing him if caught in a sudden breeze.) After adjusting the bandanna wrapped around his head fashionably, he took the downtown boy's arm
"So now can you show me to the store? Eliza is probably worried sick about me." The blonde nodded and walked back around the corner where he had first caught his new companion.
(note: please excuse the initial errors. i hope you liked it! please review, because i love them and the people that submit them!)