What's happening, peoples? How has your week been? Good? Good. I'm glad it was good. If it wasn't good then…sucks to be you. No, just kidding. I'm sorry if your week was bad. My week was…decent I suppose. Good enough. My sister just got her driver's license, and she's already planning on calling our mom and telling her she crashed the car as a joke. My family is weird.

So, we go back in time to hang out with Feliciano this chapter! I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but I'm having trouble writing Feliciano. He's just so happy! It's not right! Must have ANGST! *rips out hair*

Thanks to my eight reviewers! Your reviews, as always, were wonderful and appreciated and amayzing and all that other stuff. I love you guys. You're my reason for writing, and I thank you for that.

But! Let's get on with the story, shall we?

DISCLAIMER: So not mine, it's not even funny. I do have some fettuccini alfredo which I am currently eating though. It's rather delicious, if I do say so myself

WARNINGS: Happiness, time-traveling, the Axis Powers, mentioned AusHun, Yaoi Fangirl Elizaveta and her sidekick Kiku, hunger, Turkey bashing (because nobody likes Sadiq), way too many dot dot dots, and the worst seating arrangements possible (at least for Yao)

There's no swearing in this chapter. WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?

EDIT (11/23/11)- Thank you Fathommyeyes for pointing out my spelling issues with dear Roderick's name. I have now changed all of them to 'Roderick' which looks much better than 'Roderich'. You're the best! :D

…

Public transportation, Feliciano had decided, was absolutely wonderful. The conclusion had been forming slowly in his brain ever since he found his seat on the train, but now, watching his brother rush past with three strangers in hot pursuit, it was very clear to him. But, of course, Lovino had always said that you needed more than one piece of evidence to back up your statements, so he'd have to go back to fully prove his point. His tale begins as he steps on the train to his school, following close on the heels of his brother.

He didn't think he was ready, no matter what he had assured his brother. The switch was becoming suddenly less and less appealing. He wasn't a complete idiot. He was well aware of the trouble they could get into if they were caught. But Lovino had asked him this favor, and he couldn't disappoint his brother.

It would start now. Lovino had drilled into his head that there were separate sections for Hetalia and Marukaite students (why couldn't they all just sit together?), so he would be taking Lovino's seat while Lovino would be taking his. It hadn't been said, but Feliciano realized that he probably wouldn't be seeing his brother for a while after this last parting. The thought wiped the rest of his smile right off of his face. His heart sunk to his stomach. He was being left alone.

Well, not alone. There was always Kiku of course! Kiku would take care of him. But it wasn't quite the same as having his brother with him every day, the way he had last year.

He felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, his lower lip trembling as he stared at his brother's back. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was launching himself at his brother, just as Lovino turned around. His twin stumbled back a few steps, almost losing his balance as he wrapped his arms around Feliciano's waist.

"You've got to email every morning and call every night," Feliciano ordered, trying to make his voice as strong as he could. He felt Lovino smile against his neck. "Do you promise? You've got to promise."

"I promise, fratello. Ti amo,"Lovino's voice was uncharacteristically fond as he reached up to ruffle his brother's hair. His fedora was pushed back so that it barely perched on the back of his head, and Feliciano automatically reached up to put it back in place. It was such a typical thing for him to do, that he doubted his brother even noticed him doing it.

"Ti amo," Feliciano pulled away, his lips twitching into a smile. Lovino's perpetually angry expression softened into a tiny smile. Straightening his posture, he stood at attention, hand coming up to his forehead in a salute. "'Til later, Feliciano Vargas!"

"'Til later, Lovino Vargas!"

Feliciano immediately turned and sprinted towards the door to the front of the train, turning back only once to shoot his brother a reassuring smile (well, he hoped it was a reassuring smile). He shut the door behind him, slumping against it for a second. He was alone. His eyes felt suspiciously watery, and he raised his hand to swipe across them quickly. No use crying about it. He'd just have to be brave! He could be brave! Maybe…

"Ah, Fel- Lovino-san!"

Feliciano brightened immediately. He had almost completely forgotten about the fact that Kiku went here. He wasn't alone after all! He bounced up from his position, skipping over to the flustered Asian man, "You don't have to say the '–san' Kiku! I'm not actually my brother!"

"Quiet Lovino!" Kiku frantically shushed him, swiftly looking all around them. "Don't say that so loud! Anyone could be listening to us."

Feliciano clapped both his hands to his mouth, eyes wide and horrified. Lovi would kill him if he was caught! Especially if he was caught on the very first day! He had a bit of a sneaking suspicion, however, that Kiku was just being paranoid. It wouldn't be uncommon. The Japanese man had always had little patience for anything dangerous, which was part of the reason that Lovino had always had trouble hanging out with him. He acted fine when Kiku was around, but would afterwards complain that he 'didn't know how such an oblivious idiot like you ever became friends with such a fucking polite stick in the mud'. Kiku himself never said anything about Lovino, but tended to steer away from discussing him, as if he was afraid of what he would say. Sometimes Feliciano wished that his brother and his friend could get along better so he didn't have to always be choosing between them…but whatever! It was okay! It wasn't actually all that difficult, and Lovino had his own friends for when he was off with Kiku. Probably. He hadn't ever met any of them to tell the truth. But he was sure that he did!

Feliciano blinked, realizing that Kiku had been hesitantly reaching up a hand to wave in front of his face. It hadn't quite reached him yet, but even the thought that Kiku would do it was enough to snap him out of his sudden daydream. He lowered his hands, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, ve~! I just got distracted for a second there."

"It's fine, Feli-…Lovino," Kiku grimaced slightly. "Oh my, this is going to take some getting used to on my part."

"Don't worry about it, Kiku!" Feliciano waved his hands as if brushing his friend's worries away like dust. "It'll take some getting used to for me too. We'll help each other out with it, and we'll both be fine. I promise we will!"

His cheery grin was rewarded with a half-smile from his friend. Kiku shook his head (he liked to think it was fondly rather than exasperatedly) and gestured towards the rest of the train, beginning to walk. "We should get to our seats. I imagine the train will be leaving soon, and I have some people that I'd like to introduce you to before we go."

"Okay!" Feliciano followed him closely, through another door that apparently led to the main part of the train. He wondered what the area they had just been in was. The welcoming room? The wait room? The random room that they didn't know what to do with so just decorated it and left it there and hoped that nobody asked too many questions? Any of these ideas seemed possible. He wondered if Lovino's side of the train had a welcoming room. They probably had a whole welcoming hall; his twin always liked things extremely over the top, despite how much he would sneer and say it wasn't so. Cursing and insulting was just Lovino's way of showing affection.

Thoughts of Lovino and his welcoming hall were promptly swept out of his mind as they entered the seats area. Feliciano's mouth dropped open. He stopped in his tracks. His head tilted back in wonder.

Well. This was why Lovino had forced him to wear his nice clothes this morning.

PART 2: FELICIANO

SUITS AND TIES AND DEBUTANTES, DRESSES AND TRESSES AND PASTA!

(OR, WHY DIDN'T LOVINO WANT TO COME HERE AGAIN?)

It was beautiful. Soft yellow lights lit up the interior quietly, casting an intimate glow across the train. He could practically feel the silkiness of the off-white carpet through his shoes. The seats were the color of sunshine, padded and plushy, and their inhabitants leaned together closely to share secrets. Speaking of the inhabitants, their outfits made Feliciano want to pull at his collar nervously. It was if they were on their way to a ball, the king's ball perhaps (he didn't know what king; they were in the United States after all. The Burger King?), and were ready to impress the prince or princess with their sophistication and grace.

The whole scene made the artist inside him ache for his sketchpad. Or even just a scrap of paper and a bit of charcoal. It was just a moment that he needed to capture, but he didn't dare move and disturb them.

Kiku glanced at him knowingly. Actually, now that he remembered the fact that Kiku was there, he noticed that his friend was dressed up from his usual anime shirt and jeans-slash- some Japanese attire that Feliciano still didn't know the name of. Bushido? San Marino? Kimono, maybe? But, anyway, he was all dressed up in a suit and tie, the jet black and white suiting him well. Oh, ha ha! 'Suiting him well'… Cause he was in a suit and it suited him…

Never mind.

Feliciano quickly buttoned up his white shirt the rest of the way, fishing the tie out of his pocket that he was now thankful to Lovino for having shoved there. He needed it.

"Do you…need help with that, Lovino?" Kiku asked, a trace of panic in his voice as he realized what Feliciano was doing. The Italian couldn't imagine why. Sure, he had never worn a tie before and was incapable of tying his shoelaces, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't be able to put on this tie by himself!

Right?

He was starting to doubt this assumption however when the fabric started to cut off his air supply. Kiku was now freaking out, in the quiet way of his. "Are you entirely sure that you don't want me to help with that? Because you're turning rather blue in the face and I'm pretty sure that blue is not a color you want to ever turn. I mean, I know it's not a color you want to turn, not I think it is. I am studying to be a doctor after all and, really, everyone knows that-"

"Oh, Kiku, stop blabbering away. I'll help him out."

A woman with long, flowing brown hair stepped out from behind Feliciano, smiling down at the smaller boy. Her green eyes were kind, and her hands were gentle as she slowly unwound the tie from his windpipe. Feliciano stared up at her with wonder as she tied it properly, if loosely, around his neck. "T-Thank you, miss!"

She laughed delicately, raising one hand to cover her mouth. Her green nails sparkled like her dress, green as well. He wondered if she only knew it matched her eyes, or if it was truly her favorite color. Or perhaps she has just felt like wearing green today. The artist inside him was practically throwing a tantrum now (he had a feeling that was going to be happening a lot…), "Please, I'm not even close to old enough to be called 'miss'. I'm only a junior. You can just call me Elizaveta, or even just Eliza if you wish. And you're very welcome. I couldn't just leave someone to die by his own tie, especially when I know how fickle they can be."

"It's very nice to see you, Elizaveta-san," Kiku said quietly. The woman turned and enveloped him in a hug, which he seemed at a loss of how to respond to.

"Please, Kiku, we've been over this so many times!" she exclaimed, releasing him. She stepped back to stare at him seriously, hands still clasping his shoulders. "You can just call me Elizaveta. I have no problem with it."

"I am sorry, but I feel more comfortable calling you Elizaveta-san, Elizaveta-san," Kiku gave her one of his half-smiles.

She huffed and turned to Feliciano. "Does he do this to you too?"

The question startled him a bit. He had been busy scrutinizing her, wondering whether a picture would look best in acrylic, watercolor, or colored pencil. He had successfully eliminated colored pencil so far, but hadn't been able to pick between the other two. Feliciano shook his mind back to reality and beamed up at her, absentmindedly playing with his tie, "All the time, ve~!"

It was his turn to be hugged this time. Elizaveta was turning out to be a very huggy person, something he hadn't expected from first glance. But now it seemed only right that she would be such. "You're so adorable! What's your name, darling?"

He almost said 'Feliciano' but caught himself just in time. "Lovino!"

"What a lovely name!" Elizaveta laughed, pulling back. "I do wonder though, would you allow me to call you 'Lovi' instead?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!"

"Wonderful!" she clapped her hands together, clasping them under her chin. "Well, if you ever need anything dear, just remember that I'll be here to help you! I should be getting to my seat now, though. Roderick is probably beside himself worrying about what sort of situation I've gotten into this time."

"Who's Roderick?" Feliciano asked innocently.

"Roderick is my boyfriend," Elizaveta, her tone slightly more subdued than before. "You two would get along…well, you'd probably get along. But the train will be leaving soon, so I'm afraid that I will have to leave your introduction for later."

"Have a lovely day, Elizaveta-san," Kiku extended his hand, which she took gently and gave a small shake. "Give my greetings to Roderick-san."

"I will, Kiku," she smiled down at Feliciano mischievously, ruffling his hair. "Goodbye, Lovi!"

She swept down the aisle, pausing every once in awhile to give a greeting to someone already seated. Feliciano watched her go happily. Kiku began to walk down the aisle as well, and he skipped after him. "There are some nice people here, Kiku!"

"Yes, there are," he agreed, tone warm. "There are two more people I want you to meet before we settle down though. Is that alright with you?"

"Uh-huh! Lead the way!"

They walked on for a little bit. During this, Feliciano allowed his mind to wander back to Lovino. Marukaite really must be some school for him to not want to come here. This place seemed like it was going to be amazing, at least in Feliciano's opinion. He was aware that he didn't agree with his brother on these accounts very often (if at all), but he was pretty sure that Lovino would adore it here, even if he wasn't quite as taken with Kiku and Elizaveta as Feliciano was. He only hoped that everything was going well with him too. Lovino deserved it.

He almost ran into Kiku as the Japanese man came to a sudden stop. Hastily taking a few steps back, he peered over his shoulder to see why they had halted. An Asian man, Chinese maybe, was huddled up in his chair, staring at the one beside him with something akin to absolute horror. Nobody was sitting in it at the moment, but a bag had been left on the seat as if someone had been there before. The Chinese man pulled at his long ponytail of black hair anxiously. He didn't seem to have noticed their arrival at all, too preoccupied with trying to sink into the wall and disappear from view. Feliciano cocked his head in curiosity.

"Is there something troubling you?" Kiku asked, his tone a bit more formal than it had been with Elizaveta. The other man glanced up, becoming even more horrified.

"Kiku, run away!" he hissed, straining his neck to look over the seats. Kiku merely quirked an eyebrow, to which the Chinese man gave an exasperated sigh, still scanning the area. "Yong Soo's going to be back any second, aru! He was helping Mei carry her stuff, but he'll be back soon and you'll just make him worse if you're here when he does."

"Da~!" a voice from the next seat back sang happily. Despite the cheery tone, it made a shiver race down Feliciano's spine. A tall man with a childlike face beamed back at him. "Go to your seat. I'll take care of Yao-Yao."

Kiku, noticing him as well, slowly shook his head. "I am so sorry, Yao."

"Yeah, yeah, aru. Just go!"

"Yao, this is Lovino Vargas, my good friend. Lovino, this is Wang Yao- or Yao Wang, I guess," Kiku started speed-walking down the aisle again. "And that's Ivan Braginski back there too. Now, let's go."

"Nice to meet you!" Feliciano called over his shoulder as he followed Kiku.

"Pleasure, aru."

"Bye bye ~!"

When they had progressed a good five rows beyond the two, Feliciano's curiosity got the better of him. "Hey! Kiku, who's Yong Soo? And why would it be a bad thing for him to see you there?"

"Yong Soo is another sophomore who goes to this school. Yao knows him from way back; their parents are good friends. I only just met him last year," Kiku shuddered a bit, peaking Feliciano's curiosity even more. Kiku never shuddered at anything. It was like he was incapable of getting cold, and nothing seemed to scare him either. This Yong Soo must be someone important. "And as for why it would be best for me not to be there…well, I'm sure you'll find out eventually. It's something that I'm not really sure I can explain in words."

Well, so much for an answer that clarified things. Feliciano didn't push it though. If Kiku said that he'd get to see eventually, then he could wait until then. "He's not the other person you want me to meet then?"

"No. No, I'm pretty sure his seat is further back."

They continued walking for awhile, Kiku's stiff and nervous posture slowly smoothing out to his normal position (which was still stiff, but less nervous). Feliciano stared at every person they passed, wondering if this one could be the one they were going so far down to find. He, or she, didn't seem to be anywhere. They did pass Elizaveta however, sitting beside a skinny brunette with glasses, whom Feliciano assumed was Roderick. She gave a tiny wave as they passed. Roderick only glared.

When they finally reached their seats, Kiku seemed to have given up on finding the mystery person. "I suppose he's not here yet then. I didn't think his seat was any further back than this, although admittedly, I have forgotten the exact number."

"Kiku?"

Feliciano's eyes alighted on the boy who had stood up from the seat behind theirs and was torn between wanting to hide behind Kiku and… Well, he really just wanted to hide behind Kiku. The boy was tall and broad, towering over Feliciano and making him feel rather self-conscious about his slim form. His blond hair was slicked back severely and his suit was straight and perfect. It gave him a rather military like appearance. Feliciano could easily imagine him giving orders to run ten more laps, yelling terrifying things as he did so. He gave an almost inaudible 'eep' and shifted so Kiku was a bit more in front of him. Blue eyes flickered to him briefly, softer than the rest of him, displaying confusion until they turned back to Kiku, "It's good to see you, Kiku. How was your summer?"

"It was very good, thank you," Kiku stepped into their row of seats, leaving nowhere for Feliciano to hide behind, much to his terror. "How was yours?"

"Same as usual, I'm afraid," Scary-Blond-Muscle-Man-Whose-Name-Was-Really-Ludwig said. He glanced at Feliciano again, who cowered and slid in beside Kiku, trying to make himself as small as possible. "And who is with you?"

"This is-" Kiku cut himself off to glance at Feliciano, who was crouched behind the seat, obscured from Ludwig's sight. He looked back up at Kiku with wide eyes. Kiku merely shook his head, reaching down to pull him back to a standing position. Feliciano smiled a bit manically at them, to which both of the other boys chose to politely ignore. "Sorry. This is Lovino Vargas, my good friend from childhood who just transferred here. Please excuse any strange behavior he may exhibit. Lovino, this is my friend Ludwig Beilschmidt."

"It's very nice to meet you," Ludwig said, extending a large hand. Feliciano took it gingerly, not wanting to be rude. They were freezing. "Where did you transfer from?"

"J-Just our…local public high school, ve~!" Feliciano squeaked out. Blue eyes stared at him unblinkingly, and he wished that he could sink into the ground. "It wasn't a very nice school. I mean, I'm sure they tried to make it a nice school, but it didn't work so much and Lov- my brother always said that they didn't try to make it a nice school, which I'm sure isn't true because the principal was a very nice guy for always letting him get away with things without calling my grandpa ve~, but really overall, it wasn't a very good school so we decided to transfer or actually ve~ my grandpa decided to transfer us and I ended up going here, ve~!"

"Are you…quite alright?" Ludwig asked, clearly taken aback by his sudden outburst. Since he was used to it, Kiku merely shook his head and turned to take a seat. "You seem a bit…well, you seem a bit nervous. Or sick. And you seem to be saying…'ve~'…a lot…"

"Don't worry about it," Kiku said, amusement in his voice. "Believe me, I have tried to diagnose him several times and nothing fits. This is just him being normal."

Ludwig nodded briskly, extracting his hand from Feliciano's not-so-tight grip. The Italian immediately put his arm back at his side, still smiling too hard and trying not to appear scared (even if that was what he was) in front of the other boy. "Well, you should sit down. The train should be pulling out soon, and it's not a good experience to be standing up when it goes."

Out of habit and partly out of terror, Feliciano snapped a hand to his forehead, "Sir, yes, sir!"

He then promptly spun around and sat down, color coming to his cheeks. He head Ludwig take a seat a moment later, probably having paused out of confusion. Kiku from beside him chuckled quietly, only stopping when Feliciano shot him a Lovino-like look. This trip was not going as well as he had hoped when he had first stepped in.

…

This train ride was long. He hadn't thought that a train ride could be so long when you weren't crossing like oceans or something. Yes, he knew trains couldn't cross oceans! Although it would be cool if they could. Maybe he should invent a train that can run across water. And run on water. So that there would never be a shortage of fuel when it went out on the open sea. Because there'd be water all around.

But, back to the point, the train ride was lasting a long time. And it was making Feliciano highly uncomfortable, as he was, for some reason, hyper aware of every movement that Ludwig made from behind him. He had tried telling himself that his fear was irrational and silly. Kiku obviously liked him, after all, and Kiku would never be friends with a cruel drill sergeant type person. Probably. He was friends with that Sadiq guy, which was probably worse than a cruel drill sergeant type person. He really didn't like Sadiq. And that was saying something, because Feliciano liked everyone! Seriously, he did! He even liked that teacher that was hell-bent on failing him in the sixth grade. He had had cool shoes. Not to mention he hadn't even met Sadiq yet, only heard terrifying stories (some examples included kidnapping, pedophilia, and a mask he wore when he killed people) about him.

Wait, didn't Sadiq go here? Kiku had said that he had met him and his other friend Heracles (who was apparently an infinitely nicer guy…except where Sadiq was concerned) through school. Oh, thank God that they hadn't run into him yet.

But enough about Turks who he really didn't want to meet. The point was that Feliciano had been sitting in complete silence for around an hour! And that was not normal for him! No, any second now he was going to spew word vomit everywhere and Ludwig would think he was even more of a crazy person than he already did and Feliciano would be embarrassed forever. Forever!

He didn't want to be embarrassed forever!

"Hey, do they serve pasta on this train?" he asked suddenly. Well. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. He had been going back and forth between that and 'Does Ludwig enjoy ordering people to run in circles' which would have been offensive. Fortunately, his stomach had won the argument. "I'm so hungry~!"

"They don't serve food on this train, sorry, Lovino," Kiku said, flipping a page in his book. Feliciano didn't know what he was reading; every time he craned his neck over to look, the Japanese boy had pulled away, blushing a muttering something under his breath. It was all very mysterious. All he had been able to discover so far was that there were black and white pictures in it. Probably a manga; Kiku had plenty of those. "I do believe that I told you yesterday to bring some food with you on the train. Remember, over the phone?"

"Oh…yeah," Feliciano pouted for a second before rounding on his friend again. "Do you have any food, Kiku?"

"I'm afraid not. I had a rather large meal before boarding, so I didn't see the need of bringing any," Kiku glanced up briefly to smile at him apologetically. "I'm very sorry, Lovino, but I think you'll just have to do without food for awhile."

"I have some fettuccini alfredo packed if you'd like some," a quiet voice spoke up from behind them. Feliciano whipped around to stare at Ludwig, who was offering up a Tupperware container like a sort of peace offering. "I can guarantee it's very good. It used to be…I used to hate it when I was little, but I've developed a certain fondness for it lately. But I don't think I'll have the chance to eat it, and if you're hungry…"

"Are you sure?" Feliciano asked, mouth already watering in anticipation. If Ludwig said no, he might just have to choke him with his tie. "You're not going to get hungry later and then hate me for eating your food right out from under you and then decide to sneak into my room at night and make me run laps for hours and hours and hours?"

An eyebrow shot up and Feliciano immediately flushed and sank down so that his face was half-obscured by the seat. He would have turned all the way around but, well…that pasta looked really good. "No, I promise I won't do any of that."

"Okay, ve~!" The pasta was gone from his hand in a flash and Feliciano was shoveling it down his through. Unknown to him, Ludwig stifled himself from laughing and sat back in his seat with a little smile on his face. Unknown to Ludwig, Feliciano was deciding that maybe Ludwig wasn't such a cruel drill sergeant type person after all. Unknown to the both of them, Kiku was currently sending a text to Elizaveta reading: 'Ludwig and Lovino=New pairing for us.'.

She replied simply: 'Squeee!'.

…

They were at the station now, the train having arrived ten minutes ago. Ludwig, being polite, had offered to help Feliciano and Kiku with their bags, an idea that Feliciano was sure that he was completely regretting now as he was practically bent in two with the weight of them. Every time either of them offered to help however, he merely waved them off, giving assurances that he was perfectly fine. Feliciano had surreptitiously taken two of the smaller bags off of his back anyway.

They were waiting for Kiku at the moment, who had disappeared, strictly ordering them to wait there. Ludwig had set down a few of the bags and was now rolling out his shoulders gratefully. Feliciano was standing on tiptoe, searching for his brother in the crowd.

"What are you doing?" Ludwig asked. Feliciano barely glanced at him before resuming his scan of the station.

"I'm looking for my brother," he answered sadly. "I know he said that we probably wouldn't see each other when we arrived, but I was hoping for it anyway. He's going to Hetalia…so I'm probably not going to see him for a long time…"

"Hetalia…?" Ludwig looked at him silently for another second, before dropping the bags from his back and straightening up. He stretched, rolling his neck around with a painful crack. He looked back at Feliciano, smiling. "Well, what does he look like? I'm taller than you, so it's more likely that I'll be able to spot him."

"Really? Oh, thank you, Ludwig!" Feliciano exclaimed. If it had been Kiku or Lovino or even Elizaveta probably, he would have gone in for the hug, but it was Ludwig, so he merely rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, locking his hands together behind him. "He looks pretty much exactly like me, except he'll be wearing a fedora and have a big scowl on his face. Like this!"

He demonstrated, pulling his lips down in a severe expression and glaring at the other boy. Ludwig nodded seriously and carefully rotated his head so that he could see the whole station, Feliciano holding his breath in anticipation. He wilted when Ludwig shook his head. He sank to the ground, putting his head behind his knees and willing himself not to start sobbing or anything so pathetic as that. Nice guy that he was, Ludwig kneeled down beside him. "I can take another look if you want me to. But I'm sure your brother is fine, wherever he is."

He patted Feliciano's shoulder awkwardly, his smile becoming sort of pained. The Italian raised his head, rubbing at his eyes furiously before trying to grin at Ludwig reassuringly. To his dismay, his lips trembled downwards into a pout instead. "But what if he got caught in the wrong crowd on the train and is in trouble? L-Feli acts like he's all tough, but really he's kind of a wimp and anything could have happened to him!"

"I'm sure he's-" Ludwig's words were cut off by a figure racing by, three others in hot pursuit of it. When Feliciano recognized his brother as the one getting chased, he started to stand up in alarm. But that was when he heard it.

Laughter. His brother was laughing. His brother never laughed, unless it was sarcastic or at someone else's expense. But Feliciano could hear him now. It was a quiet laugh, sure, but a genuine one. Feliciano gaped as he sprinted by, Lovino not even seeing him in his haste, before his expression quickly transformed into his usual smile again. This switch was definitely worth it after all. Public transportation must be sent from God if it could make his twin like this. After the three pursers had zoomed by as well (one oddly enough with white hair; albino maybe) he turned to Ludwig, wanting to tell him about the miracle that had occurred. But when he saw his face, his smile slowly fell.

Ludwig was watching them go with a hard stare. It wasn't a glare exactly, but it wasn't kind either. He seemed to be looking at one of the chasers in particular, but they went by too fast for Feliciano to figure out which. The expression was terrifying and saddening all at the same time, and Feliciano just wanted to wipe it off his face as fast as he physically could.

"L-Ludwig?" he asked uncertainly, voice trembling. Ludwig did not respond. "Y-You're kind of scary right now, ve~…"

That got him to look back at him. The remnants of the expression were still there, but when Feliciano shrunk away they vanished, instead turning into a murky mixture of apologetic and mortification. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, looking away. "S-Sorry, I was just…I was just startled."

"R-Right."

"Hey, I'm back. Sadiq and Heracles are meeting us by the entrance," Kiku glanced up from stuffing a camera back in its bag. He took in their faces and frowned in confusion, stopping his motions. "Did I miss something?"

They did not answer, so Kiku merely shook his head and went back to what he was doing. Feliciano put his gaze on the ground, feeling like he had missed something.

"Wait, did you say…Sadiq, ve~?"

"Yes, and Heracles. Why?"

"…N-No reason. Heh…heh…"

They all proceeded, not exactly worry-free, to the exit.

…

And that's the end of Feliciano: Chapter One! I hope you enjoyed it.

I also have an announcement to make. I will not be posting any new chapters during the month of November. It's a tradition for me to win NaNoWriMo every year, and I don't want to break it this year of all years. I will have my PruHun oneshot up during the month because I'm so close to finishing it, if any of you are interested in that. However, I will not have time to write GEMINI because…well, because I don't want to make you read piles of crap instead of good new chapters. So, there will be one more update after this one, and then there will be nothing until December.

I'm really really sorry! I hope you understand though.

But, for now, I'll see you all next week! Thanks for reading! And remember: a review a day keeps the Sadiq away! Love ya guys! And exclamation marks! They're cool!