AN: Hello people! Sorry for the late update... I actually had stuff to do this weekend, so I didn't get to update on Saturday like I'd planned. But anyway, Happy Chinese New Year! *glomps China* Yao even gets mentioned (VERY briefly, this chapter has only Italy and Germany in it) in honor of this day. GO YEAR OF HATORI (if anyone's into Fruits Basket :P)

I'd like to clear something up before we get started though, because I understand that some people were offended that America and Germany didn't seem like they'd still love Britain and Italy as men. That's not true, and if I implied that I'm sorry. America would just prefer to be straight, and Germany wouldn't know how to express his love to Italy if he was a man. They'd both still love them just the same, though.

Well, now that that's out of the way, on to the (short [I apologize]) chapter!

A veek… A VEEK… Ludwig shook his head in despair. No way was he going to be able to get up the courage to confess to Feli in just a week. He'd thought he'd have more time than that… At least long enough to take her out a few times. Ease into it. But now he was so short on time. The faster Britain hurtled towards a breakthrough in her magical abilities, the closer Ludwig came to losing Feliciana forever. Well, at least losing the chance of ever being able to be with her. He hardly knew how to romance women, much less men!

Thunder cracked outside the window and lightning flashed in spidery veins of light across the sky as Germany climbed into bed. Rain had just started to fall a moment ago. It was fitting to his mood—he was just as gloomy.

He fell asleep quickly—soldiers' habits died hard. He could fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. That came in handy tonight; he didn't want to think about the daunting task before him. Why was it so hard to just say those three little words? Somehow he'd rather have taken on all five Allies single-handedly than force himself to say those words to Feli in just under seven days. If she laughed… If she said she didn't care about him like that… How could he ever face his first and best friend ever again?

When he fell asleep, he tumbled headlong into a nightmare about his bruder harassing Italy at the world meeting, evading all Ludwig's attempts to pound him until his "awesome looks" were permanently ruined.

He woke up to a particularly loud thunderclap. It was still raining, and the thunder and lightning had only grown more intense. Every couple minutes, a flash of stark white light would illuminate the room and another BOOM would reverberate through the house not a moment behind. The storm was close enough to the house to make Ludwig nervous.

Abruptly he noticed something quivering against his leg under the covers. He threw back the blanket to find Feliciana curled into a ball there next to him. She wore a long pale pink nightgown and her hazel eyes were wide and frightened.

Germany instantly turned violently red. "Feli! Vhat in Gott's name are you doing here?" he demanded at a shout, recoiling to the other side of the bed as if he'd just found a viper there instead of the girl he was in love with.

"The storm is so scary, Ludwig," Feli whimpered, crawling imploringly toward him. "Can I sleep here with you? Per favore? You won't even know I'm here, I promise!"

He was so aware of her presence there that it was almost laughable. "Nien! You can't just come into my room vizout asking!"

She frowned, looking hurt. "But… When I was a man, you always let me sleep with you! Why can't I sleep with you now?"

The double meaning of that was painfully obvious to Ludwig. Couldn't she hear herself? At least she hadn't come wearing usual Italian sleeping attire. Which was nothing but one's skin. "It's different now zat you're a voman!"

"But… Why?" Her lower lip began to tremble. "Don't you like me anymore, Germany?"

Oh, Feli, you're so slow! he groaned internally. "No, Italy, of course I like you."

"Then why can't I stay with you?" she asked. Her eyes were starting to water, which made Ludwig panic slightly. If she started crying, he had no idea how he was going to deal with it. Usually he just whacked her over the head and told her to stop her blubbering, but if he was the one who made her cry…

Suddenly lightning illuminated the room in flat white light, followed almost immediately by a thunderclap that rattled the windowpanes. Italy's tearful eyes flew wide in fright, and she threw herself at Ludwig, locking her arms around him and burying her face in his chest.

The impact was enough to knock him backwards a little. His arms instinctively went around Feli, holding her to his body.

She sobbed into his chest, her arms tight around him. "It's so scary! Don't send me away," she wailed. "Per favore! Please don't make me be alone!"

Ludwig had been cruel in his past. But he wasn't capable of the cruelty it would take to send Feliciana away when she was like this. "Shh, it's okay," he soothed awkwardly, running a hand along her hair. It was even softer than he remembered. "Shh. Don't cry, liebling. I'll let you stay. Just don't cry."

Feliciana scrubbed a fat tear from the corner of her eye, gazing up at Germany. "Really? You will?"

"Ja. Just stop crying, okay? Ve'll never get to sleep if you're sobbing all night."

How in the vorld does she smile like zat? She vas just bawling! But sure enough, her smile was so huge it made his cheeks hurt to look at it. "Grazie, Ludwig!"

"Ja, ja. Lie down now," he said, motioning to the other side of the bed.

Feli snuggled down contentedly in the pillows. "Buona notte!" she said, already almost asleep. Although for her, that had nothing to do with soldier's instincts—it was just laziness.

Ludwig had almost fallen asleep himself, after a desperate battle with questionable victory to convince himself that the most beautiful nation in the world was not in his bed. Then a little voice piped up next to him.

"Ve~, Ludwig? What does 'leebly' mean?"

"Leebly?" He glanced at her. "Where did you hear that?"

"You just called me that, just a minute ago. When I was crying because of the storm."

Oh. Not leebly, liebling. Ludwig flushed. Had he really called her that? It must have slipped out.

"Oh… Nozing. Don't vorry about it." The lie was obvious in his voice.

"Aww, you won't tell me? Ve~, I'll just have to ask Prussia at the world meeting tomorrow!"

Ludwig felt like a shot of ice had just been injected into his spine. Gott, East vould never let me live zat down! "It's just a German pet name," he said evasively.

"Oh! What does it mean?" Feli asked brightly, completely oblivious to the torment she was putting Ludwig through.

Cursing all the gods he could name for their love of irony, Ludwig forced himself to say, "It means 'sveetheart' or 'darling'… Or 'love.'" The last two words came out small and choked, half-strangled. His throat was already crowded, with his heart in there.

There was a pause that seemed to last for a small eternity. Finally, Feliciana asked, "Love?"

Ludwig swallowed thickly past his heart. "Ja."

"You called me love?"

"…Ja."

A small, warm hand found Ludwig's under the covers. As Feli's fingers slid through his, he wondered how he could kill a man without skipping a beat but still go stiff and brainless at her touch.

"Do you love me, Ludwig?" asked Feli softly. "Is that why you called me that?"

His fingers tightened on hers. "…Ja."

Her thumb traced over each of his knuckles. "So… Like friends? Or like a girlfriend?"

"Like… How do you love me?" he asked, dodging her question.

"I love you lots and lots, Ludwig. I love you more since I became a girl." The admission took no effort at all for her, but he was still sweating and having a hard time making his heart behave.

"The same for me… Since you became a girl, I've loved you differently," he said softly.

For a long moment, they were silent. The only sound was the storm outside.

Then Feli released Ludwig's hand. The older nation was paralyzed for a moment as pain radiated outward from his heart, sending a shockwave of agony through his chest.

The bed creaked as Feli moved. But to his surprise, she didn't move away—she moved towards him, slipping under his arm and tucking herself into his side.

She nuzzled into his chest. "Ti amo, Ludwig."

His heart skipped a beat, then rose exultantly. "Ich liebe dich, Feli."

"So, when I kissed you because you pulled my curl, did you like it?" she asked after a moment.

"Very much," he admitted, grateful for the darkness that hid the blush on his face.

Feli grinned widely. "Ve~? You did? I thought you were mad, because you held me off."

"Nein, it vasn't zat. I vas confused." Hesitantly, he tightened his arm around her shoulders. "It vasn't because I didn't like it."

"In that case… Will you kiss me, Ludwig?"

"Erm." Ludwig turned scarlet. "Okay." They sat up together and he carefully kissed both her cheeks, hoping she couldn't feel him tremble.

When he pulled back, she was frowning. "Not like that, ve~! Like this!" She put her arms around his neck and tugged him down until their lips met.

Fireworks went off in Ludwig's head that would have put Yao's best work to shame. This time Italy kissed like Italy should—sweet and warm enough to curl his toes but not as rough and hungry as before. Without his permission his arms went around her, one trapping her waist and the other weaving through her long copper hair.

She pulled back and gave him a sunny smile, declaring, "I like kissing you, Ludwig!"

"Umm…" He tried to form coherent words from the mush that had replaced his brain. "Ja. You too."

She giggled, cupping his cheek and stroking his cheekbone with a thumb. "Maybe it's time we went to sleep, huh, Ludwig?"

He nodded mutely and allowed her to pull him back down to the bed, where she snuggled into his side.

"Buona notte, Ludwig," she sighed, and promptly dropped off to sleep.

"Guten nacht, liebling," he said softly, even though she couldn't hear him. He sent up a silent prayer of thanks to the gods for their love of irony. All that worrying, and he hadn't even needed a week after all.

AN: I totally rewrote this chapter like...three times. I couldn't get Ludwig to be awkward enough! But I think this one captures his adorable romantic awkwardness :3 At least I hope so! Please leave me a review and tell me if I did it right! We're still short of my goal of 120 reviews. But since the fic is looking to be a little longer than I thought it would be, I'm going to raise the number to 150! You can do it, guys! I believe in your critiquing abilities. :D