The Paper Ring
Feliciano Vargas stood in the doorway of his room, surveying the mess he had made. "Ah, now to get everything out; I can get rid of some stuff," he said happily and jumped over one of his piles. "I do want the room to be clean when Ludwig comes home," he smiled.
With a thump, he sat in the center of the room and pulled a box towards him. "Let's see what we have here…" he said and started rummaging through the box. His hand brushed agents a small object and he picked it up, confused.
"What's this?" he asked himself and opened the small black box in his hands. Placed within it amongst long dead flowers and blades of grass was a small, wrinkled paper ring.
"Ah, so that's where you went to," he said, slipping the ring on his finger. It was so small it only fell halfway on.
"I remember when I first got you," he said wistfully as the memories of a little kid floated before his eyes.
Ludwig and Feli had been friends since kindergarten. They did everything together, kickball, swinging on the swings, going down the slide; they could never be separated.
So the day Ludwig stopped talking to Feliciano was quite unexpected. Feli had run up to him that day and all the blond did was look at him with wide, scared eyes and run away.
Then at recess when the little Italian saw him hastily ripping up grass and flowers alike, he ran over, wondering what he was doing.
"Hey Ludwig, you want to swing?" He yelled from the edge of the field. The small German jumped, his pickings flying everywhere.
"A-ah no Feliciano; I do not vish to play with you today! Go avay!" he yelled back and continued back to what he was doing.
Feliciano sadly walked over to the swings and plopped down in one, halfheartedly swinging back and forth.
"Feli, what's wrong?" the teacher asked as he solemnly walked back into the classroom, her green eyes full of concern.
"Nothing Miss. Hedevary," he said quietly as he took his seat on the carpet for story time. He watched as Aurther and Alfred walked in, Alfred shoving Aurther before running to his spot. Aurther stumbled caught himself, then ran and jumped on Alfred. They laughed.
Feli bowed his head. He wished he understood why Ludwig wasn't talking, or playing with him. Had he done something wrong?
After school, he ran home. Ran all the way home. By the time he reached his door, he was out of breath.
"Papa!" he yelled, calling for his grandfather as he opened the door. The brunet man stuck his head out of the kitchen doorway.
"Feli, what's wrong?" he asked as the little boy ran over and hugged him.
"Oh papa today was sad! Ludwig wouldn't talk to me, and when I asked him to swing with me he told me to go away!" he said sadly. Romulus rubbed his grandson's back.
"It's okay Feliciano, he'll speak to you again," the man said.
"R-really?" the small Italian asked, looking up at his grandfather. The older brunet smiled and nodded.
"Now wash up, I made you a snack," he said and the little boy ran to the bathroom.
The next day Feliciano did not walk up to Ludwig; that day Ludwig walked up to Feliciano.
"A-ah Feli…" he said shyly and tapped the brunet on the back. The Italian turned and smiled when his eyes met the blue ones.
"Hi Ludwig," he said.
"I have something for you," the other replied with a blush. He held out a small black box to the Italian. "My grandfather says that if you… love someone, you give them this," he said blushing an even deeper shade of red.
Feli very carefully took the box and opened it. Inside it was a little white paper ring with white flowers and grass around it.
"Oh Ludwig, its pretty!" he cried and hugged his friend, kissing him on the cheek.
"I-I'm glad you like it," the blond said. Feli slipped it on his finger and walked hand and hand into the classroom with Ludwig.
"Vhat's all this mess?" asked a much older German voice than that of his memories. The room flooded back around him and Feli looked up to see blue eyes twinkling down at him.
"Ah, you're home Ludwig!" Feliciano said and stood up. He stumbled over one of his piles, but Ludwig caught him.
"Vhat is this?" he asked as he brought Feli's up. He examined the paper ring for a second. "Ah, I remember this," he chuckled, kissing the top of Feliciano's head.
"Vi, I found it while I was going through my stuff," Feli said. The German smiled and kissed him.
"Maybe we should save going through your stuff for another day," the blond chuckled.
Feliciano blushed. "Vi, yes, another day." He said, then stood on his tip-toes and kissed Ludwig again.