Ready to see how Feli and Ludwig get on! Here we go!

I do not own Hetalia! Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya!

Love is Blind Pt2

"This Doctor Beilschmidt could be right," Romulus commented as he, Feli and Lovino eat their evening meal together that night. "You should get in touch with one of your mated friends from school. You can't live your life on what ifs, my boy and you can't live it alone!"

"I'm not alone, Nonno!" Feliciano denied, twirling pasta round his fork. "I have you and Lovi!"

"Feli, I always won't be here," Romulus replied. He knew Feli hated it when he talked like that but it was true. He was quite healthy but he was getting on in years and no one lives forever. "And Lovi will have his own life to lead, eventually." Neither Romulus or Lovino had told Feliciano that Lovino had found his soul mate, an oblivious but happy Spaniard called Antonio Carriedo and they would have to tell Feliciano soon. They were just afraid of how he would react to the idea that Lovino felt the need to hide it from him and feel guilty about it.

"Nonno's right, fratello," Lovino agreed. "Stop being an idiota and find your soul mate!" He desperately wanted to be with his soul mate, although he would never come right out and tell the oblivious idiot but while Feliciano continued with his misguided idea of hiding from his own soul mate, Lovino felt stuck and it made him grumpy. Well, more grumpy than normal. Romulus indicated for Lovino to back off before he pushed Feli too far. Lovino nodded and calmed down.

"I can look some of your old friends on Facebook or Twitter," he offered. Even Feliciano had a Facebook account that Lovino and Romulus helped him with so maybe some of his old school friends had on too. "See how they're getting on now and if they're happy with their soul mates or not. Come on, we'll do it now!" And he dragged Feliciano up to their room. Romulus began clearing the dinner table when there was a knock on the door.

Romulus put the plates he had picked up back on the table and went to the front door. He opened it to find a blonde haired, blue eyed man standing on his doorstep. Ludwig had debated the way to handle this and decided to talk to Feliciano's grandfather, hopefully with Feliciano absent. He wanted the grandfather's advice before he came forward as Feli's soul mate.

"Mr Vargas?" he asked and Romulus nodded. "I'm Doctor Ludwig Beilschmidt. I've just taken over your grandson's care from Doctor Edelstein." Romulus held out his hand for Ludwig to shake.

"Come in, Doctor," Romulus invited. "Feliciano is up in his room with Lovino. I'll call him down for you."

"Actually, I came to see you," Ludwig replied, stepping through the door. "There's been a development and I need your help before I reveal it to Feliciano." Romulus was intrigued and directed Ludwig to the living room. He offered Ludwig a beer which he accepted and they sat down facing each other.

"How can I help you, Doctor?" Romulus asked.

"Please call me Ludwig," Ludwig replied. "As you know, Feliciano had his first session with me today. When it was over, I left my office to take some files back to the secretary and Feliciano was still there. When he turned to leave, his eyes were open and they met mine and ….."

"You're Feli's soul mate!" Romulus said, matter-of-factly. Ludwig nodded.

"It was a shock, I can tell you," he told Romulus. "I've been waiting to find my soul mate for so long and it turns out be to someone who didn't want to find me." Romulus pursed his lips.

"He'll have to know!" he replied. "Feli has been avoiding this for five years but now it's happened, he'll have to face it. He started your heart and he has to take responsibility now. He can't avoid it!"

"I'm just concerned of how he'll react when I tell him," Ludwig admitted. "He was so against this!" Romulus had to admit that he was concerned too! Feli seemed happy but he knew his grandson carried a lot of pain inside and he could be surprisingly bull-headed when he got an idea in his head and this idea of being a burden to his soul mate had had a long time to fester, despite all efforts to convince Feli that hew was wrong. Feli needed a strong hand to steer him in the right direction and fate would not have chosen Ludwig for no reason.

"My advice!" Romulus offered. "Tell him and don't let him push you away because he'll try to, thinking he's doing the right thing. Don't try to force him too much but he needs to accept this. For his sake and his fratello's!"

"His brother's?"

"Lovino's found his own soul mate," Romulus revealed. "But he hasn't told Feli because he's scared of how Feli will react. This happening now could be a blessing in disguise because Feli will have face up to having a soul mate and Lovino will no longer have to hide his!" Ludwig gave a considering hum.

"When do I tell him?"

"No time like the present!"

Lovino was searching for the names of soul mates of any of Feli's old friends from the blind school he had gone to. It took a while but finally he found someone.

"Here's one," he said. "Alice Kirkland! She was one of your friends, wasn't she?"

"Si," Feliciano replied. "What does it say?"

"Well …."

"Feliciano!"

Their grandfather's voice came up the stairs. Feliciano made his way to the door with the experience of years of moving around a room that was kept the same way all the time and opened the door.

"Si, Nonno!"

"Can you come down for a moment?" Romulus called. Feli hesitated for a moment, wanting to find out what had happened in his old friend's life since they parted company.

"Go on!" Lovino encouraged. "This will still be here. Go see what Nonno wants!" Feli left and made his way down the stairs, knowing the house like the back of his hand. He went into the lounge and said, "Si, Nonno?"

"We have a visitor, Feli," he heard his grandfather say. Feli could hear someone else breathing in the room and turned toward the sound.

"Hello, Feliciano!"

"Mr Ludwig!" Feliciano was surprised to hear Ludwig's voice, having seen him just that day. "What are you doing here?" Romulus turned to Ludwig.

"I'll leave the two of you alone," he said and left the room. Feliciano heard his grandfather's footstep fade in the direction of the door and did not understand why he had left him alone.

"I think we should sit down, Feliciano," Ludwig said, taking Feli's arm and guiding him to a seat, not because he was blind but in a effort to look out for his soul mate and Feli allowed it. Ludwig sat beside him.

"Feliciano, something happened when you were leaving today," Ludwig decided not to mess around with small talk but to get straight to the point before he lose his resolve. He was not looking forward to Feli's reaction. "I came out of the office when you just leaving. Your eyes were open!" Feli was not sure he liked the sound of this.

"S Si," he stammered. Ludwig took Feliciano's hand and put it on his chest.

"I saw into your eyes," Ludwig said, simply as Feliciano felt the heartbeat under his hand.

Feliciano began to breath quickly. This was wrong! He had been guarding against this for five years and he had only just met Ludwig! This was not right!

"No!" he began panicking. "No! This can't be happening! I... I... No! I'm not trapping anyone like this!" Feliciano ripped his hand away from Ludwig's chest, shot up from his chair and tried to run from the room but he moved too fast to judge where everything was and tripped over a stool. He would have fallen if Ludwig had not caught him and brought him back up into his chest but Feliciano began to fight him.

"Let me go!" he wept, trying to push himself away. "I can't do this! I can't condemn you to a life with someone who's heart will never beat! Please let me go!" But Ludwig refused to do what Feliciano demanded and did what Romulus suggested. He would not let Feli push him away and just kept hold of him, physically holding the distraught Italian against his chest.

"It's too late, Feli!" he said as Feliciano continued to struggle. "My hearts beating now! It's beating for you! No one's going to accept a man who's heart beats for someone else! There's only you now!" Feliciano began to cry and Ludwig put his hand on Feli's head and held it against his chest and rested his chin on top of Feli's head while Feli's sobbed out his woes.

"It will be all right, Feliciano!" he said, comfortingly. "I know your heart will never beat but I know that, if it did, it would be beating for me and that's enough. Give us a chance, Feli!" Feli hiccuped and sniffed, trying to absorb what had happened but he felt overwhelmed. It was too much at once and he needed to think.

"I need time!" he insisted. "I never wanted this to happen! Please, give me time!" Ludwig did not wanted to let Feli get away from him but the therapist in him said that he needed to give Feli space or he would break.

"I give you the time you need," he replied, stroking Feliciano's hair. "But remember! You're my soul mate and that won't change. We were chosen for each other for a reason and I promise I'll never resent you for something you can't help!" Feli sniffed and pulled away. This time, Ludwig let him go and Feli stepped away.

"Give me until our next appointment," Feliciano begged. "I promise I'll give you an answer then." Ludwig held out his hand and cupped Feli's cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb.

"All right," he agreed, reluctantly. He had the feeling that if he pushed Feliciano too far, he would lose him. "Just don't make a decision that could make us both unhappy!" Feliciano wiped his eyes and left the room. Watching his soul mate walk away from him was the hardest thing Ludwig had ever had to do.

"You handled that well, boy," Romulus said coming back into the room.

"You were listening!"

"You didn't think I would be far away, did you," Romulus replied. "If you tried to force Feli to agree with you, he'd have run. I know my grandson! He'll make the right choice!" Ludwig wished he was so sure but he did not know Feli that well.

"I hope so!"

Feliciano drifted back up the stairs to his room in a haze of disbelief of how his life had suddenly turned upside down in a matter of minutes. Lovino turned round when the bedroom door opened to see his little fratello come in and knew immediately that something was amiss. Feli's face was white and his eyes were red rimmed.

"What's wrong with you, idiota?"

"Mr Ludwig," Feli sniffed. "He came and said he saw my eyes and his heart started beating!" Lovino stared at Feli.

"You've found your soul mate!" he blurted. "He's German, isn't he? Aren't they potato loving bastards?" Fresh beads of moisture fell from Feli's eyes.

"I didn't want him to find me," he said, tearfully. "Now he's stuck with me, a blind man with a unbeating heart. I've trapped him!" Lovino lost patience with his fratello's melodramatics.

"Don't be stupid!" Lovino snorted. "I doubt he feels trapped, probably thankful he's found you! You really think you being blind would make your soul mate reject you! Come here, idiota!" Feliciano made his way over to Lovino who pulled him down to sit beside him in front of his laptop.

"Here's one of your friends," he read off the screen. "You remember Alice Kirkland, don't you?"

"Si," Feliciano replied. "She was a good friend."

"Well, she and her soul mate got married," Lovino said, staring at the information. "She's Alice Bonnefoy now. And expecting her first child! She and her husband seem very happy!" Feliciano looked thoughtful.

"And there's Yao Wang!" Lovi continued. "He and his soul mate, Ivan Braginski have been together for four years and getting married this year. And there's another! And another! Everyone I've found up to now is happy with their soul mates. I haven't found everyone but I've found enough!" Feliciano was lost in thought. Would it be all right? Could it work for him as it seemed to have worked for his old school friends?

"Give your soul mate a chance!" Lovino ordered. "Even if he is a Potato Bastard!"

A week later...

Ludwig nervously awaited his next appointment and he had been nervous all day. He had managed to hide it from his other patients but now he was waiting for Feliciano to arrive and his nervousness was on full display. What would he say? What decision had he made about their future?

Ludwig had done what Feli asked and gave him time but there had been times that he was ready to march back to Feli's house and just take his soul mate home with him but his irresponsible older brother, Gilbert told him not to be an unawesome idiot and let Feli had his space. Ludwig was just glad their discussion took place over the phone from Canada otherwise he would be in for non-stop ribbing, twenty-four-seven. But it had been a long week of anticipation and apprehension, alone with his beating heart.

His thoughts were disturbed by a knock on the door and he tried to compose himself before calling out, "Come in!"

The door opened slowly and Feliciano stood there, his eyes opened now, beautiful but staring at seemly nothing. He just stood in the doorway making no attempt to move beyond it.

"Come in, Feli," Ludwig said, softly. Feli looked like he had not slept much and it hurt Ludwig to think of his soul mate suffering as much as he had this last week. Feli shuffled forward, closed the door behind him and 'Vee~'ed. He made his way to the couch and sat down without being told to but he sat on the edge, stiff as a board.

Neither of them said anything for a moment and it was an awkward silence. Ludwig wanted Feli to tell him his decision but was afraid to ask. Feli, on the other hand, did not know how to start or how to phrase what he was going to say. He had spent the week looking up other old friends from the blind school to see how their lives were like now and it was encouraging but he had lived with this fear for five years and it was hard letting it go but his hand had been forced by fate.

"Ludwig …..," he began.

"Yes, Feli!"

"I didn't want this to happen," he admitted. "You know that but it has and now we have no choice but to see it through. And you're right! No one will want a mate who's heart is beating for someone else so I have no choice but to accept you as my soul mate!"

Ludwig frowned. This was not what he wanted, for Feli to feel he had to agree. Feli always said he did not want to trap anyone but it felt, to Ludwig, like Feli was the one trapped and he now knew how Feli felt

"Feli, I don't want you to feel like you have to do this," he replied. "I want you to do this because you want to, otherwise we're doomed to failure." Ludwig was sure that, while he would never regret it, Feli would grow to resent the situation and him and might, one day, walk away.

"Let's compromise," Ludwig suggested. "Let's us try for a little while to see how things work. No commitment. If it's not working, we walk away! What do you say?"

This was the biggest gamble Ludwig had ever taken because he would have to find a way to convince Feli that they could be happy together but, if he did not succeed, Feli could still leave but at least, this way, Feli would not hate him at the end of it all.

But if Feli did walked away, it might very well destroy him.

Feliciano was stunned into silence by Ludwig's proposal. He felt sure Ludwig would accept what he had decided and not let him go but, instead, Ludwig was giving Feli a chance to let him go if it did not work out. He had resigned himself to a life with a mate that might slowly grow to hate him but... This could work! A trial period might help them both. Feli, to determine if things would work, Ludwig, to see if they would not.

Feli felt like he had room to breathe again and nodded.

"I think that's a good idea," he agreed. "How long for?"

"Let's give it a few months for a start," Ludwig replied, relieved that Feli was agreeing to what he suggested. "See how it goes!" Feliciano nodded and Ludwig finally smiled. It would give him time to work on Feli and make him see that, not only could it work, they could be very happy together.

As he pulled Feli into his arms and hugged him, he decided that his little Italian soul mate would not have a chance, if Ludwig had anything to do with it!

This is turning out longer that I'd thought it would. Oh well! Ludwig has a few months to convince Feliciano that they can make it as soul mates but he is determined and how will Feliciano react when he finds out that his fratello found his soul mate but kept it secret from him. Poor Feli will feel so guilty :'(

To takuya – Poor Feli feels that his heart can't be touched and it seems impossible for him but, never fear! There just might be a happy ending :)

To themusicalcat – Poor Feli thought he was doing what was best for his soul mate but it's too late for that now. Luckily, Ludwig's managed to agree to give him a chance so fingers crossed, eh! X X

To Normandy – Feli's too busy trying to prevent making others unhappy to worry about his own happiness (not working, I know! D:) Let's hope Ludwig can convince him of the error of his ways!

To Seele Esser Deutsch – NO! NO! DON'T DIE! YOU'LL MISS THE REST OF THE STORY! DX

To Ariaprincess – Well, hopefully, happier times around the corner for Feliciano and Ludwig. :) And here's your update!

And so Feliciano and Ludwig's courtship begins! There'll be encouragement from everyone and, maybe, just maybe there'll be light at the end of the tunnel.

Till then Hasta la Pasta!

Goodbye to David Bowie and Alan Rickman! The Starman and the Wizard! You'll be sadly missed by us all :'(