A/N: A long-awaited continuation. I am starting to get back in the business of writing. I hope this is good practice.

Chapter Two

His whole face turned red – and with skin as pale as his, it was more than evident.

Maybe, she realized what she had just done, and she turned just as red too. And but her tan skin hid the blush from everyone except Gilbert himself: "Oh, um… That was…" But she couldn't straighten her thoughts enough to give a solidified answer. Behind him, Gilbert could hear Antonio's heavy breathing and just how much his best friend was fuming. Perhaps, Alicia noticed this too, because she looked up, then looked back at him worriedly, "D-Don't worry," she said, "I… I got this."

Okay. Cool. Of course he didn't worry. A girl just kissed him. On the cheek, yes, but she kissed him. And of course that's happened several times before, right? Wrong. He had never gone as far as touching a girl's hair, so there also wasn't much of getting kissed by one. The last girl who he thought had kissed him wasn't exactly a girl (again, Francis) and had only kissed his injured knee because he fell off a tree and cried. If the girly blond wasn't so sissy when he was younger, Gilbert wouldn't even think that he was a girl. So his cheeks were still bright red, and the place where Alicia had kissed him was extra warm. He groaned miserably – he was starting to get a headache with all these thoughts that were pouring out.

"Mon dieu!" The Frenchman was first to help his friend up while Alicia and Antonio spoke straight in their native tongue somewhere before them, "That's a pretty bad wound you got, mon ami~"

He didn't even notice it, but it seemed like the Prussian's arm had scraped the pavement while saving Alicia from the soccer ball. His temples were slightly grazed too, "Oh." He didn't even act like it was painful, "It isn't really…"

Alicia took one good look at it and frowned, "Oh no, I'm so sorry," she apologized immediately, "Come on, I'll bring you to the Hospital Wing."

"He doesn't need help, he scraped his arm, not break his leg." Antonio reclaimed, obviously annoyed that the Prussian was getting attention from his sister, of all people.

"Let them go."

The authoritative voice was none-other than the Student Council President himself, Arthur Kirkland, "Let the lass bring him to the Infirmary. The bloke bloody needs it." But there was a glare towards the Prussian's direction, "Nothing funny, you hear me?"

There was a glare from Antonio's direction, and the albino could only nod. And so, once again, he was towed to the direction of the infirmary.

"You're insane, you are."

She was gently dabbing some antiseptic upon the Prussian's arm before taking a bandage to wrap it with. She ignored his comments, but her cheeks still looked flushed. "Y-You don't do that to me," she managed to choke out, "You don't do that, and you don't say things like that about me. Especially not when Antonio and Arthur are around."

"You're pointing this at me?" Gilbert demanded, "What about you?!" His cheeks were still bright red, "Y-You just went out and k-kissed me!"

"On the cheek!" she reclaimed, cheeks flushing crimson, "It's just…Still…" she said, more quietly now, "What you did was…" However, she didn't continue her statement. She didn't, or perhaps, she couldn't.

"That is no excuse for you to just kiss me." He stopped her hands from binding his wounds momentarily, looking intently at her, "Tell me the truth." He had a certain commanding tone. But with his voice soft, it could hardly be taken that way.

She took one look into his eyes and she sighed, "Let's not do this, okay, Gil?" she said, expression unreadable, "Why can't I just be one of those other girls that have probably kissed you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" This time, his grip on her hand tightened, "Is that the kind of person you think I am? I'll have you know that I have never been kissed before."

She looked at him, brows furrowed, "B-But with my brother and Francis," she argued, "Y-You're always talking-"

"Yeah, sure," he rolled his eyes, "I've said some stuff for show. But have you actually ever seen me locking-lips with anyone?"

She thought about it.

Before she could say anything, he tore his gaze away, "That's not part of my culture. I don't… Share intimate moments like that so loosely."

Soon, both of them were wearing the same flushed cheeks, "G-Gil, I-"

"No," he released her from his grip, then looked at her, "Don't apologize. I… I liked it." More than I intended to, believe me.

And across her tan skin, Alicia's cheeks turned even redder, "… You did?"

He nodded slowly, "… Take responsibility," he asked of her, flushing a vibrant shade of red, "C-Can… Can we walk home together today?"

For the longest time, she just looked at him. Then, out of nowhere, her cheeks pulled into a smile and she began to laugh. In between her fits of giggles, she began to bind his arm again. However, Gilbert looked terribly confused: did he say something weird? Something wrong?

Finally, she looked at him, "It isn't you, don't worry," she immediately said, addressing the look on his face, "It's just… I've waited so long for something as simple as that." She smiled warmly at him. His heart skipped a beat – that smile.

"So… yes. Okay." She eventually chuckled and looked at him, "I will walk home with you."

"Family?"

"I live mostly with Ludwig, but we're staying at the compound with the other Germanic states right now. It was the house that I raised him in. You?"

"In the Romantic's hacienda, with Antonio. Lovino stays with us often, too, so he's a special addition. My sister stays at the compound with the other states. She's like the head of the family there."

"Cool."

The promise to walk home was not disappointing: they walked slowly, savoring each other's presence, answering each other's questions, and walked side by side, fingertips brushing at the motion. Gilbert gulped: he wasn't used to things like this. And the way her eyes twinkled when she talked made him notice all the little details in her face. Her lashes curled, her eyes had a smidge of green in them, and she licked her lips once before she answered any questions. After a while, he stopped in his tracks.

"I'm sorry, Alicia. I'm not used to this." He admitted.

She stopped abruptly, brows furrowed, looking at him, "What?"

"All… This." He gestured at her, then at himself, cheeks flushing, "It's… I don't…" How does he say she's the first girl he was interested in that had some vague interest in him back? How does he say that he's more bark than bite? And how in the world does he say that he wasn't sure with how to go about the entire romance-and-dating scene?

"Do… Do you want to hold my hand?"

She said it so softly, he almost thought she was joking. It took him a while to realize that her cheeks were tinting pink as she held out her hand for him to take. His heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah." He said with a small grin before taking her hand in his. It wasn't even intertwined, he couldn't bring himself to do it. But his hands were clasped around her smaller, slightly calloused ones too, which made him wonder if she did any fighting in her younger years. When he turned to look at her, he could note that the pink in her cheeks were rising to a shade of red, and she couldn't look at him.

Instead, she gave his hands a small, gentle, squeeze.

So all he did was hold it tightly back.

They shared that content silence right before they reached a fork in the road. Finally, she looked at him, "Our house is on the left." She said slowly.

He nodded, "Yeah, I know. I go there too, remember?" It made her chuckle.

"And yet you say you've never seen me." She said, "How nice."

"Hey, being an albino gives me terrible eyesight." He replied, in defense.

She raised an eyebrow, "Maybe that's why you keep saying I'm beautiful."

"No." He scowled, "You're beautiful even when I saw you up close."

It rendered her silent once more. To that, the Prussian slowly added, "I'll, uh… I'll walk you to your door."

She didn't say anything more.

Once they were at the front porch, she turned to him, "I guess this is it." She said softly, finally looking into the Prussian's crimson eyes. He could see that she didn't want him to leave. To be honest, he didn't want to either.

"We can walk back home tomorrow, too." He said with a grin, hoping it would lighten her spirits.

She smiled widely at the idea, "That'll be nice. No football practice?" she asked.

"Nah," he said, "Tomorrow's our rest day." He gave her hand a squeeze, "Besides. I'll also see you during Economics, Literature, Algebra-"

"And History, if you're going to show up for class – I think you have a reason to, now."

Both of them froze. Gilbert turned his head to see one of his best friends, Antonio, looking at them, expression unreadable.

Alicia didn't pull her hands away, "H-Hermano, we were just-"

"Come inside." Antonio turned, but then looked back at them.

"Both of you."

It seemed that Antonio didn't take it too well.

To be honest, the Prussian was almost sure he was going to get even more hurt (with Antonio's tendency to be violent when being protective), but he didn't expect to be in the Romantic's living room, frozen in front of his best friend. Neither of them said anything, until Alicia brought in a tray with three coffee mugs.

"Honestly, hermano."

She placed it down on the center table, handed one to Antonio, then a black coffee to Gilbert, who looked astonished, "How did you know?" he asked, but she merely smiled in reply, hiding behind her own coffee mug.

"My. Sister." Antonio repeated again.

This time, the Prussian groaned, "All right Antonio, I get it. Alicia is your sister." He said, looking at the Spaniard, "But I'm not doing anything bad to her, in fact, all of today, I think all I've done is try to get to know her, and even walked her home."

"I know you, amigo-" Antonio started to say, but the Prussian shook his head.

"You know me. Exactly," he started to say, looking at Alicia this time, "So why not?"

"You're telling me this now, when just this morning, you punched lockers because you were jealous that Roderich was walking with Eliza?" demanded the Spaniard. Gilbert couldn't answer. Alicia looked down at her lap. The Prussian hoped she didn't think about it too much. And so, Antonio continued, "I don't know if Francis already told you about what happened between him and my sister, but I assure you, I didn't like it one bit. Why did you think I spent last summer ignoring him?"

"I'm not Francis." Gilbert said.

"I'm saying you can make mistakes." Antonio's gaze was stern, and uncharacteristic. Gilbert thought the Spaniard had left it back in his sailing days, "I don't want my sister to be one of them."

"She could never be!" The albino didn't know when his voice had started to rise, but it did: "All I want is a chance!"

"Gil."

Alicia looked at him, then reached out to take his hand into hers gently. She held it warmly, and it calmed him down. He didn't know how she was able to do it: one look absolutely captured him. His heart suddenly stopped beating too fast, and he almost thought that all it wanted to do right then and there was beat at her command.

Then, when they both looked at Antonio, he was huffing, "Fine. A chance." He said, a small smile tugged at his lips.

"And just so you know… Francis never asked me for this."

Eliza, huh?

Gilbert ended up staying for supper, and after Alicia had cleared up the table, she was on the porch outside, looking up at the stars. She knew she could never match up to Eliza – the country of Hungary. She was just… Aragon. Sure, in her younger years, she set up Spain to be one of the best countries in the world, and yes, she made sure the other regions had their best foot forward… But that was a long time ago. Things have changed, and now, she would sit with the others, re-learning what they've previously known, but in new light. She could top her class, but nothing would change.

She would still be a region.

As she sighed out into the autumn air, she didn't hear the front door open and shut, "Stars?"

Gilbert went up to stand next to her. She didn't look at him, but she replied, "They keep me company."

"I could do that too." He said earnestly, and it made her amber eyes turn to him.

He was so genuine, and his intentions were so pure. She didn't know what to do, "Gil…" she said softly, "I… I understand, you know, if you still like Eliza. You can take your time."

At first, the Prussian looked at her. Then, he chuckled, "Have you been thinking of that all this time?" She didn't answer, and Gilbert grinned, "I don't really like Eliza anymore."

"You were jealous that she was with your brother." She pointed out.

It was his turn to sigh, "That was because she used to be one of my closest friends." He looked down at his feet, "And when she agreed to marry my brother, she distanced herself from me, and anything we used to do together. I don't love her. I just miss her." He looked at Alicia this time, "I don't want to miss you. I… I kinda want to be with you all the time."

She chuckled at his words, "We can't do that, Gil."

He pouted playfully, "Don't you want to be with me too?"

She wanted to say yes. She wanted to admit that the Prussian had reignited a flame that she thought would never be set ablaze again. She wanted to just take him into her arms. But she only laughed and looked up at the sky, "It's a crazy, wonderful idea."

But he was braver that she was. So, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, and she froze.

"I don't know if I'm doing this right." He admitted, his head buried in her shoulders, "Tell me. Tell me what to do, Alicia. Tell me if I'm doing something wrong. I want to get to know you. I want to know the person who looks at the stars, and why your brother is so protective of you. I want to know the person who works for Arthur. Will you let me?"

His little speech almost made her cry. When she pulled away, he looked hurt, but then she threw her arms around him, and she could see the shock in his crimson eyes.

"I will… But maybe, not tonight."

She could feel the albino's hands wrapped around her once more. "All right."

But he was so warm. She almost didn't want to let go. She wanted more, and she knew that no amount of blankets would give her the feeling he was giving her. She knew it was just an embrace – but she also knew that it was so much more than that.

Once they pulled away, he was looking into her eyes, and she was staring into his.

"I, um…"

"I think I should go." Gilbert said with finality.

She nodded, "Yes, right… Okay."

"Hey." He grinned at her again, a hand giving her nose a little tap, "I'm going to see you tomorrow."

She giggled a bit, cheeks flushing but nodding again, "Yes, I know."

"I'll come see you before first period, okay?" He said. And without waiting for her response, he kissed her cheek, then ran down the porch steps.

Alicia didn't know how long she was rooted on the spot, touching her cheek as though she had fallen in love for the first time.