Just a Little Push
Part 21
Ludwig oftentimes wished that he weren't so easily swayed by little Italian girls with big brown eyes or older sisters who knew just the right words to say to make his resistance melt away into a puddle of failure. There had to be a trick to it. Someone just had to know the secret of resisting the charms of the female species...
Unfortunately, Ludwig had not yet found that person.
"Ludwig! Ludwig! Look!" And that was all the warning he got before said little Italian girl with big brown eyes threw her arms around him and then rested her head against his chest, staring up at him with a happy smile.
All he could think now was 'Thank God that Gill had decided to go down to the beach with Francis, Antonio, and most of the others. Thank God'.
"Yes, Feli?" And that's when he noticed that she happened to be covered with paint. Paint that she was managing to spread onto his clothing...
Not that she noticed. "Ve~ come on, Ludwig! Come and look at my painting!"
Yes. Feliciana had, in fact, managed to convince Ludwig to join her in the arts and crafts' building in the free time that they had between lunch and dinner. Not that Ludwig really minded that, because it was actually quite calm and quiet in here. The only other people who happened to be here at the moment were himself, Feliciana, Tina, Berwald, Kiku, and Elizaveta. What he did mind was the fact that Feli wasn't content with him just being there. No, she wanted to make sure that he had fun—ignoring the fact that he had absolutely no artistic talent.
Which was how he'd ended up attempting to paint a cuckoo clock. And failing rather miserably at it, as well.
And now he was being tugged over to where Elizaveta was standing in front of a table, blocking the view so he couldn't see what Feli wanted to show him...
"Ve~ close your eyes, Ludwig! And don't open them 'til I tell you to, okay?"
Ludwig immediately obeyed, knowing that it was really the only thing that you could do when dealing with Feli. Besides, he was rather curious to see what she'd made; Feliciana was an absolutely incredible artist, after all.
"And ta-dah! Open your eyes now, Ludwig!"
Which he did. To see that she was now holding a small light blue flowerpot up towards him, excited grin plastered on her face. He was distracted by that smile for a moment, but then turned his attention to the pot, upon which was painted...
He immediately blushed. A picture of himself and Feliciana—little cartoon figures of them; he thought he remembered Kiku calling the style 'chibi'—holding hands on top of a hill, both with beaming smiles on their faces.
Thank God that Gill wasn't here. He'd never hear the end of this.
"They're so adorable!" And now Liza suddenly attacked Feli with a hug, kissing the top of her head fondly, and receiving a happy giggle in response. "Isn't it the cutest thing ever, Luddy? And Kiku just showed her how to draw them, too! She's so talented."
And now Elizaveta turned on him with a bright smile that Ludwig knew all too well. It was the sort of smile that she'd given him many many times throughout his life, usually right before she attempted to force him and Roderich to either A) Dress in women's clothing, B) Kiss each other, or C) Do both at the same time...
It was a smile that haunted his nightmares.
And it wasn't helped by what had happened yesterday, when Gill had dragged him to Roderich's cabin—bursting down the door and terrifying poor Raivis into passing out. She'd tried to convince the two of them to let her video tape them kissing ("You don't even have to make out! Just one little smooch!") in an attempt to bribe Liza into helping their team.
Thank God for Mattie walking by at that moment.
He'd have to make sure to get her a nice present for Christmas this year. Especially now that she and Gill were apparently dating...
He still wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Anyway, he was suddenly brought back to the present by the realization that Liza and Feli were still staring at him. Along with Kiku, who had been drawing something up until this point that Ludwig was doing his best not to look at, and Tina and Berwald. The two of them had been sitting at the end of the table throughout this whole exchange, paying them little attention, as Tina chatted while she worked on sewing a little white stuffed puppy together and Berwald occasionally nodded or mumbled unintelligibly in response.
"Ah, it's...very nice...Feliciana..."
Feli immediately beamed, like he'd just given her the best praise she'd ever heard in her life. "Ve~! I'm so happy! You'll keep it won't you? You can grow flowers in it! Or tomatoes! Although Lovi might be angry if she found out that you were growing tomatoes..."
Ludwig knew that if he didn't say something now, she'd start naming every type of plant that you could possibly grow in a flowerpot, so he hurriedly replied, "I'll grow flowers. We can go...pick some out when we get home. All right?"
"Ve~ really?" And suddenly he was being hugged again, this time even tighter than before. "I'll help you pick out the prettiest flowers ever!"
And Ludwig was sure that his face would have exploded at that moment from sheer embarrassment if it weren't for the sudden interruption of...
"Lizzy! I just accidentally knocked out some creepy Russian guy!"
And immediately all eyes turned in tandem to face the door of the building. Where Eli was standing, one hand against the door frame, the other wrapped tightly around the handle of a 'Cherry Red Iron Handle Skillet'... (Yes, Ludwig knew exactly what type of pan it was; he'd make the mistake before of just calling it a frying pan... Never again.)
"You hit Ivan Braginski with Berta?" And Liza sounded much too calm right now. As if having her brother coming into the room and saying that he knocked someone out with his Cherry Red Iron Handle Skillet was a perfectly normal thing to happen. Then again...it probably was normal for them.
"Hey!" Eli took a step inside, holding his hands up defensively. "He startled me! I was just standing there, minding my own business when this random guy suddenly grabbed my shoulder and did this creepy laugh. Like 'KolKolKol' or something like that. And then he calls me 'Toris' and...well... You don't really think super clearly when some random Russian guy grabs onto you and calls you by some other name..."
Ludwig often wondered if he'd inherited all of the sane genes that should have been spread throughout the rest of his family. It was the only logical explanation for how he could be related to these two. And Gill... Couldn't forget Gill.
"I figure that he's probably up again by now, though. I mean, I didn't hit him that hard..." And as he said this, he slipped his skillet over his shoulder and into his knapsack. Elizaveta had an identical knapsack that Ludwig knew held her own frying pan. He had never understood why in the world the two of them carried frying pans with them everywhere...
But there was no way he was going to question it. He'd learned long ago to never ever question anything that any of his relatives did. It was better for his sanity in the long run.
"What are you guys doing in here, anyway?" And now he suddenly walked over to Kiku and leaned over his shoulder to stare at the drawings that Ludwig had been doing his best to pretend weren't there...
And Ludwig hurriedly began to back towards the door, grabbing Feliciana's wrist and pulling her along with him. He knew exactly what was coming next... And he wanted to be as close to the exit as possible when it began.
"Ugh, you're drawing gay porn again?" Eli groaned, leaning back and wrinkling his nose in distaste.
Earning a glare from his sister in response. "It's better than that lesbian crap that you like."
Ludwig was only a few feet from the door now. "I'll have you know that it isn't 'lesbian crap'. It's the most beautiful expression of true love..."
"Are you kidding me? That's completely idiotic!"
"Ve~ what are they arguing about, Ludwig?" And now they were almost out the door, although Feliciana was still watching the two siblings, who were now standing on either side of a very frightened-looking Kiku, glaring at each other heatedly.
Ludwig felt a little bad for leaving their friend, but..."Don't worry about it, Feli... We're just going to leave them alone for now."
Sorry, Kiku. But even Ludwig wasn't brave enough to get between those two when they started arguing about... that...
A/N: Eli and Lizzy amuse me more than they probably should. xD And yes, a Cherry Red Iron Handle Skillet is in fact a real type of pan...And why is it named Berta? ...I honestly have no idea. First name that popped into my head. xD
And if anyone's seen pics of male!Hungary... He looks a lot like Liet. Particularly from behind. So... it's an honest mistake for Ivan to make...
On another note, I'm going to announce this again, even though I technically said something about it in the newest chapter of "Awesome Night" (but since that didn't get many reviews, I have no idea how many people actually saw the note). Anyway, so I've decided to keep "The Rest was History" as a one-shot for various reasons. Meaning that I just need to finish "Tomatita" now and then we can get started on "Round and Round". Weeee...