AN: I know I updated yesterday, but today's a holiday, so I figured I'd give everyone a New Year's present! =D This chapter might be my favorite so far. And yes, the rating did go up to T, if anyone was confused. Because of-wait for it-hair curl.
Yes, hair curl. I hope you guys enjoy it! That's one of my favorite things about Italy and it was very fun to write. xD
Oh, and I've had a couple people commenting saying that they don't like the name Brittany for England, and I'm sorry to hear that. I'd seen Alice for fem!England, but I didn't care for the name, so I decided to come up with something different for mine. That's why she's Britt! I think it suits her better; Alice is just too feminine a name for him, if you ask me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. And I keep forgetting to tell you people that.
"Ve~! I guess it's just you and me, Germany!"
Ludwig took the plate of cake Feli handed him with a "Danke." She settled into the couch next to him, letting him work the remote control to start the movie.
About a minute after Britt had run out of the dining room at dinner, Alfred had left too. Even the American's idiocy hadn't been able to erase the awkward moment, so he'd gotten out of it as quickly as he could.
Then Feli had asked Ludwig if he'd watch a movie with her. She'd been all excited about one that Alfred had brought over from his house last time he went to get clothes, and of course Ludwig couldn't say no to her eagerness. So here they were, alone in the dark as the opening previews began to play.
"I heard this one's good! I'm so excited," Feli said, snuggling into his side contentedly.
Startled by her closeness, Ludwig glanced down at Feli, a blush coloring his face. She'd always been touchy. Maybe he was just now noticing because now she was…a she. "Ja… I heard zat too."
"It made me happy that you said you'd watch with me, ve~," she said, curling her legs under her as the screen came to life. "I like not being at war anymore. There's so much more time to have fun when we're not training and stuff!"
That hurt a little. That training had been for her own good! But Ludwig just sighed, unable to organize his thoughts enough to form a retort.
Ludwig still hadn't been able to sort through his feelings about Feliciana. His side, to which she was pressed so tightly that would have made Kiku faint, felt like it was being jolted with electricity, but he wasn't sure if he liked it. He wasn't used to…emotions in general, but especially attraction of any kind. Especially potentially romantic attraction.
For a while the sounds of the commercials were accompanied by the clink of their forks on their plates, but that quieted, and Feli's eyes were riveted on the screen, so he didn't want to talk and disturb her. Without anything to do, Ludwig could only focus on the pressure of her slight body on his side.
Suddenly a thought occurred to him. Does she vant me to put my arm around her? Is zat vhy she's so close? A blush rose on his broad Aryan cheekbones, but luckily he was too much taller than Feliciana for her to notice.
He spent the entire movie debating whether or not he should try to put his arm around the auburn-haired girl next to him. At the end of it, he had no idea what he'd just spent two hours of his life looking at; he'd been too concerned with the girl at his side and whether or not he should just let his arm come to rest about her slight shoulders.
But he didn't. He couldn't bring himself to do it, too scared that wasn't what she wanted.
By the time the credits began to scroll down the screen, it was very late. Ludwig started to get up, wanting to stretch his stiffened muscles, but stopped himself abruptly when he looked down at Feli. That lazy little Italian was fast asleep with her head on Ludwig's broad chest.
Ludwig softened, a slight smile coming to his face. He wasn't used to the expression, but it came naturally around Feli. Sometimes. When she wasn't being an idiot. So usually it was when she was unconscious.
He couldn't bring himself to disturb her, looking so peaceful like that. And he had to admit, even after two hours of it, the feel of her resting against him still made goose bumps erupt on his skin. So he joined her in dreamland just a few minutes later, allowing sleep to claim him and his arm to finally fall around Feli's shoulders.
The warm light of dawn through the windows woke Ludwig up in the morning. He rubbed the sleep from his ice-blue eyes and looked around. This wasn't his room. Where was he?
Oh yes. The movie. Feli.
Feli.
Of course, she was still asleep. But somewhere during the night, she'd fallen from her position against his side. Now she had her head in his lap, a hand resting on his knee and her auburn hair spilling across it.
Mien gott.
Ludwig's brain went into survival mode. How to get out from under her without waking her? Maybe he'd have to resort to waking her up. She'd survive; she took siestas every four hours anyway. I can't just let her LAY there! It's indecent!
For a long time he was frozen, unable to create a coherent plan from the formless jumble his thoughts had become. But he had a sneaking suspicion that there was some part of him—just a LITTLE one—that didn't really want her to move away.
Without really getting his permission first, his pale fingers began to stroke through her soft copper-colored hair. I never zought zat it could be so soft, he thought wonderingly. One touch and he was a goner. He couldn't have stopped himself if he wanted to now. Am I a pervert like zat creepy Frenchman? he wondered guiltily as he threaded his long fingers through the autumn-hued strands.
His stroking hands moved closer and closer to the roots of her hair. Hoping he didn't wake her—he wasn't ready for her to wake up; once she was awake he'd feel too awkward to do this anymore, and he liked it—he ran his hands through the locks on the side of her head. The side of his pinky finger brushed against that strange, lone curl at the side of her head.
Feli twitched in her sleep, a squeak escaping her lips.
Ludwig paused, waiting to see if she'd wake. She didn't.
Vhat vas zhat? he wondered. Is her head ticklish or somezing? That would be just like Feli.
He resumed combing his fingers through her hair. Once again, his hand caught the curl by accident, but this time it slid slowly between two of his fingers as he brushed them through.
This time Feli moaned, turning over so that her sleeping face was turned towards Ludwig. And it certainly didn't sound like a ticklish sort of moan.
He stared down at her. Is she dreaming? No, it's only when I touch zat one curl. Vhy, I vonder…?
Unable to restrain his curiosity, Ludwig brushed his thumb slowly along the length of the curl.
Feli gasped, her whole body twitching sharply, eyes rolling under closed lids. Frowning, he gave the curl a slight tug, one that shouldn't have been enough to wake her.
But it did. Her eyes popped wide as she groaned, and for a second she just sat there with her head on his knee, panting.
"Feli?" Ludwig asked as she sat up. She had an odd cloudy look in her eye, and she was unnaturally quiet and serious-looking. "I'm sorry zhat I woke you, I was just—"
He was cut off as Feli's lips came down on his.
Instantly every thought in his mind was crushed into oblivion. The only thing his senses registered, what his entire being was trained towards, was the pressure of Feli's lips on his.
Only one thought survived.
MIEN. GOTT.
Feliciana Vargas, Italy Veneziano, that little maid he'd loved since he was a child, was kissing him. Really kissing him.
But it was so…unlike anything he'd ever expected from her. Not that he'd fantasized about kissing her, because that would be strange. It was just too…passionate. She would have made a certain self-proclaimed país de pasión very proud. Her lips on his were not gentle, and there was no question of who was in charge of the kiss. And it wasn't who it probably should have been.
Passionate is not a bad zing, the hormonal man part of him piped up.
Not bad, but also…not Italy.
Still. His arms went around her instinctively. His fingers slid into her silky copper hair, securing her mouth to his. Gott, zis is heaven, he moaned in his mind as he breathed her in, clutching her close to his chest, drawing her to his pounding heart.
Suddenly the kiss began to grow sluggish, as if Feli was confused. Ludwig let the contact slow to a halt, unsure of how to commandeer the kiss, as much as he wanted to.
"Ludwig?" she said, pulling back ever so slightly, shaking her head as if awaking from a dream. Her eyes still had that strange look in them, clouded by some thick emotion that was slowly beginning to clear.
"Feli?" he asked. "Are you alright?" His fingers slid through her hair as he tightened his grip on her, his index finger accidentally brushing the strange curl again.
Without warning her tantalizing rough lips were back on his, even more demanding than before.
Is it… It can't be. Ze curl? Ludwig thought incredulously.
Reluctantly, the German unpried Feli's arms from around him and he held her at arm's length. She fought to get to him, crying, "Ludwig! Don't be so mean! I know you want another kiss!" And he did, more than he'd ever wanted to win World War II or teach this dratted Italian how to run fast when he wasn't being chased. But he still held her away until her struggles became less and less frantic, and finally ceased altogether. It took every ounce of his considerable self-control, but he did it.
The odd look was gone from her eyes. Now they were their usual bright hazel, albeit confused. "Wha… What happened, ve~?"
"Ah…You vere asleep, and I vas playing vith your hair" he blushed self-consciously "and zen you voke up and started…kissing me." His pink flush deepened to scarlet.
Italy's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm so sorry! You musta touched my curl." Glancing down with embarrassment, she gathered her hair over her shoulder and smoothed the ends, avoiding his eyes. "It gets kinda…you know. When somebody touches it or pulls it. Especially when somebody pulls it."
Ludwig couldn't believe his ears. "So zis hair curl… It makes you horny when somebody pulls it?"
The flush on Feli's cheeks deepened. "Si~… You just saw. I'm sorry to do that to you, Ludwig, but I don't really know what I'm doing when it gets touched!"
Ouch. He felt like his heart had just been shoved into a meat grinder. "So… If it was Alfred vho pulled it, vould you have done ze same zing?"
She nodded. "Or maybe even if it was Britt," she admitted. "Like I said, I just don't know what I'll do when somebody tugs on it."
Well. Ludwig ran a hand through his fair hair. Freed from its usual slicked-back style, it was falling into his eyes—so irritating. But sort of welcome right now. He wanted a distraction from the sudden pang in his chest.
She didn't mean it.
It had been the best sixty seconds of his multiple centuries of life, and she hadn't even meant it.
To distract himself, he asked the first question that popped into his mind. "Does Romano's curl make him…do zat too?"
Feli nodded. "Si." Then she clapped her hands over her mouth as if to take the words back, eyes flying wide. "Oh no! I wasn't supposed to tell anybody about Fratello's curl! He said he'd rip my intestines out and jump rope with them if I ever told! And then I could never eat pasta again!"
Apparently Romano had been pretty threatening, because Feli started to cry. Ludwig stared at her, unsure of what to do. He settled for an awkward shoulder pat.
That wasn't enough for Feli. Wailing, she threw her arms around him and bawled into his broad chest.
Dazedly, he held her to him, patting her head—careful to avoid the erogenous curl. How he wished he was still holding her to him as she kissed him senseless. "Don't vorry," he soothed. "I von't tell him zhat I know."
Her tears stopped. "You won't?" she sniffled.
"Nien," he responded as kindly as he could considering the ripping pain in his chest that he was trying valiantly to ignore.
"Grazie… At least you're not Big Brother Spain. Lovi said he would use the Spanish Inquisition tools in their house on me if I ever told him."
Still wrestling with the pain in his heart, Ludwig nodded mutely. "Ah… I have to go. My boss vants me to do an inspection today… I'll probably be gone most of ze day." Just get away from her. Just get away, he begged himself internally. Being around her… It hurts too much.
All emotions should be destroyed in some fiery cataclysm. They were too distracting, too painful.
"Aww," Feli pouted.
Ludwig turned towards the door, only to be stopped by Feli's voice crying, "Wait, Ludwig!"
Unwillingly, he turned back towards her. She stood up on the couch, its height making up for the considerable distance between theirs, and kissed him on both cheeks.
She grinned at him happily, totally oblivious to how her touch sent his heart racing faster than her retreat from Britain. "Arrivederci! Hasta la pasta!" she said brightly.
"Erm… Ja." Ludwig turned and stubbornly did not run down the hallway. Maybe work would get his mind off of this.
Somehow he doubted it.
AN: Hope this appeased everyone's inner fangirl! It sure did mine xD I didn't even like Ludwig much before I started writing this fanfic, but writing through his perspective gave me a new appreciation for him.
Reveiw and tell me what you think!
