A/N : Last of the, um...fluff chapters. (we have different ideas of fluff, perhaps)

Chapter 19

This Sacred Line

Spring was turning to summer.

Ludwig was brighter than the flowers, and much prettier as far as Alfred was concerned, so who needed to go outside? They created their own little world, safe within Ludwig's house, and Alfred had tried very hard to forget the wolf outside the door.

Time seemed to pass both very slowly and far too quickly, as Alfred fell into that love-struck daze and hung on Ludwig's every motion.

The piano had started collecting a little dust, as Ludwig seemed to forget it was there. Alfred had painted over the claw marks on the archway, and patched up the stair railing. With that ring and photo tucked away, the shoes out of sight, and everything glossed over, it was almost as if Ivan had never been here at all.

Only the extra locks hinted to his existence.

They seemed on the right track, everything felt warm and safe and comfortable. Ludwig leaned over and kissed Alfred's cheek in the morning, Alfred held Ludwig up against him at night. They held comfortable eye contact for long moments of time. Ludwig smoothed down Alfred's hair when it was messy, and Alfred in turned ruffled Ludwig's to make it stick up.

Alfred was comfortably awoken each morning not by the sun or an alarm, but by the remarkably wonderful sensation of Ludwig running fingers through his hair. A kiss on his cheek. Murmuring. Sometimes, Alfred made more of those stupid paper flowers and set them on the kitchen table before he went to sleep, so Ludwig would see them in the morning.

It was funny how being in love made grown men act like children.

And then one night, as Ludwig was half-asleep and upon Alfred's chest, he murmured, as he sometimes did, "Stay with me."

As he always did, Alfred responded, "I'm not going anywhere."

But that time, Ludwig burrowed into his neck, and then breathed, behind that veil of sleep, "Because you're my bodyguard."

Alfred turned his head, but Ludwig's eyes were closed and Alfred lost his voice.

That wasn't it, it wasn't.

He didn't know if Ludwig really meant it that way, had been very serious. It could have been Alfred overreacting to things, could have been his own insecurity twisting the meaning, but those words stuck with Alfred all the same.

All night.

He didn't sleep much, and was already awake when Ludwig rolled over and ran fingers through his hair. Restless. Agitated. Couldn't put his finger on it, but something was nagging him. Ludwig kissed his cheek, oblivious to Alfred's turmoil. Alfred just sat up in bed, when Ludwig had rolled out, and it suddenly hit him.

Something was wrong, alright.

Ludwig was his, and somehow, someway, it suddenly seemed to Alfred that getting paid to protect him was a little off-putting. Ludwig was his—Alfred would have protected him come what may, pay or no, danger or no, and he couldn't say why he felt a little crummy when he finally stepped into the kitchen.

Those words kept playing in his head, because it was true. Alfred stayed with Ludwig because he was paid to, on the surface. Was that why Ludwig said it so often? Did Ludwig really mean 'stay with me even when no one is paying you'? Alfred thought he had been making it clear that that was the case, but perhaps Ludwig hadn't caught that. Maybe Alfred hadn't worded everything precisely enough, hadn't said it enough.

This wasn't right.

Ludwig would never take him seriously as a partner like this, never, and it was entirely irrational but Alfred had abruptly gotten it into his head all the same to resign.

Look for a job, another job, anything, and protect Ludwig because he was in love with him and not because he was being paid. Maybe, just maybe, without the professional connection he could somehow find a way to win Ludwig over entirely and whisk him away out of this city. Wanted to go back to the country, out of this place, not home but somewhere that looked the same, and he could never do that if he was Ludwig's paid bodyguard. Gilbert would never let him go, never, and so Alfred felt like he needed to fess up to Gilbert.

It was stupid, probably, but love made men stupid. Just look at Ludwig, for Christ's sake.

If he told Gilbert the truth, Gilbert would fire him, and then Alfred could try to talk Ludwig into running away with him, as it was.

Ludwig had chosen Ivan over Gilbert...

Oh, god. He was stupid, so stupid, but he had already clung to the idea and just needed it to all work out the way he wanted it to. Wanted Ludwig to be with him, somewhere away from here, away from Ivan, away from this stress and coldness. Wanted to stop looking over his shoulder, wanted Ludwig to be able to go outside.

Wanted Ludwig to find some good reason to love Alfred enough to give up everything for him.

He must have been out of it, too quiet, because Ludwig reached across the table at breakfast and rested his palm atop Alfred's forehead, as if testing his temperature.

"Are you alright?"

Alfred nodded, and tried to assuage Ludwig by offering, "I'm just a little tired. Didn't sleep well."

Ludwig ran his hand from Alfred's forehead and down his cheek, but left it there, because Ludwig knew all about sleepless nights.

Alfred plotted away, mind whirring.

When Ludwig was safe behind his office door, Alfred stood out in the hall for a long while, fretting and pondering, and then he gathered his will and went up the elevator instead of down.

He went to Gilbert's office then, to risk everything.

If Ludwig didn't think that Alfred was a worthwhile long-term partner, then let it all be known now, right now, before Alfred put any more of his heart into this.

Feliciano and Lovino perked up when they saw Alfred coming, because it had been a long time since he had seen them.

"Hey!" Feliciano called, with a bright smile that was oddly pretty. "There you are! How's Ludovico?"

"Fine," Alfred answered, easily, as they looked him up and down.

Lovino quirked a brow, leered a little, and drawled, "Oh, I'm sure he is."

Alfred was too jittery and scared to roll his eyes, and tried to pump himself up a little by offering, "Your princess is well cared for, I promise."

"I bet, I bet," Feliciano barely managed to squeak out, as he tried so hard to keep a straight face.

Lovino's sneering leer coulda sucked out someone's soul, he swore it.

With a deep breath, Alfred lifted his chin and plunged into the office. Gilbert wasn't in the first section, and Alfred hesitated in front of the second door, because Gilbert was quite fanatical and it was probably pretty dangerous to barge in entirely unannounced. Most unprofessional indeed. Couldn't whisk Ludwig away if Gilbert murdered him instead of firing him.

He tried to envision Ludwig sitting on the beach with him in warm wind, clung to that thin hope, and with another deep breath Alfred opened up the door.

In a second, Gilbert's eyes snapped up from his papers, that glass floor glinting away in the sun and casting crystal shards everywhere. Gilbert half-stood in his chair, papers falling to the desk as he immediately asked, in a much less deep voice, "What's wrong? What's happened? Where's Ludwig?"

That hint of panic there in Gilbert's wide eyes, the slightly frantic edge to his voice.

Gilbert loved Ludwig, he did, and Alfred knew that now, but that didn't excuse anything Gilbert did.

To avoid a premature meltdown, Alfred said, "He's fine. Working. I just need to talk to you."

Gilbert sat back down, steeled his face, and all emotion was snuffed out.

"You could not be bothered to make an appointment?" Gilbert drawled, as he once more gathered up his papers, and Alfred snorted.

No, because he was essentially quitting, and no one needed an appointment for that.

Before Alfred could speak, Gilbert glanced up through his white lashes and murmured, "Something to report?"

"Yeah," Alfred affirmed, but it wasn't what Gilbert was thinking.

Had something to report alright, boy did he ever, and Gilbert wasn't gonna like it.

Calmly, Alfred merely said, as quietly as he could, "I need you to terminate my contract. Now."

This time, Gilbert's eyes narrowed dangerously, he looked angry, and Alfred braced himself for Gilbert's easily-earned wrath.

A simple, deadly whisper.

"What?"

Keeping Gilbert's steady gaze, Alfred replied, "I'm asking you to fire me."

He was ready for Gilbert's wrath, sure as hell was, and had braced his legs and shoulders for when Gilbert came charging at him to punch him in the face for having the gall to lay hands on his little brother.

"Dare I ask why?" Gilbert hissed, voice as dangerous as the lit fuse to a stick of dynamite, and Alfred tried to be brave.

"I can't work for you anymore. Circumstances have changed."

"Circumstances?" Gilbert repeated, voice ever the more dangerous somehow with every single syllable he uttered, and Alfred's heart was positively sprinting.

Here we go.

Gilbert didn't know what Alfred was about to tell him, but maybe he had a suspicion, maybe he had a hunch, maybe he could sense it there in the air, for he suddenly stood up. He placed his palms on his glossy black desk, leaning forward, and Alfred felt very much like a deer then, locked in the sights of a tiger. Gilbert was bristling, electric, nostrils flared and pupils dilated, absolutely ready to pounce at the slightest twitch. A scary son of a bitch for sure, terrifying, but Alfred stood his ground.

It had gone too far for Alfred to simply turn back.

So he met Gilbert's dangerous eyes, and admitted, "Fire me, because I don't want to be paid to protect my own lover."

Didn't say 'boyfriend' though it may have been more accurate, because Gilbert would have considered that term 'improper' and Alfred didn't wanna piss that bastard off any more than absolutely necessary.

Gilbert's wide eyes of utter shock, as his lips parted.

Had never seen anyone look so taken aback.

And then the dam suddenly broke, alright, and out flooded Gilbert's wrath.

Gilbert was stony, icy, purposeful, every move he made perfectly calculated, and so it actually shocked Alfred just how fast Gilbert could be when he wanted to move. Good god—Alfred hadn't even blinked and suddenly Gilbert had pounced. Gilbert was so intent in that second on snapping Alfred in half that he didn't even go around the desk; he actually leapt over it. Jumped and skidded over his own goddamn desk, so eager was he to get his hands around Alfred's throat.

For the second time, Gilbert's pale knuckles came flying at his face, and that time Alfred clearly heard the loud, awful crack of his nose breaking. Probably the glasses, too, come to think, and they flew off his face and to the floor as Gilbert pounced on him.

Gilbert was shrieking at him, in a voice that was nearly as terrifying as Ivan's, but he was far too angry to form words in English. German was a really good goddamn language in which to scream someone into filth, for sure, and Alfred was fairly certain that he had gotten his wish and that Gilbert was firing him.

With that in mind, he found the courage to punch Gilbert right back.

A look of utter shock, as if no one had ever dared to actually hit Gilbert back. For merely a second though, as the gates of hell opened and Gilbert went entirely berserk on Alfred and an actual brawl ensued. Hadn't been punched that many times in as many seconds in his entire life, and that said a hell of a lot about how angry Gilbert was.

Gilbert was very determined to end Alfred, and Alfred was a little alarmed because Gilbert was incredibly strong and kept trying to get a hold of Alfred's gun.

That was around the time Alfred wondered why he was so fucking stupid, and why he could never keep his big mouth shut.

A sudden loud noise, new voices, shouting and harried, and then dark blurs came rushing in. Salvation; the guards had run in, and, after a very quick assessing of the situation, they bounded forward and leapt atop Gilbert to hold him back and pin him still.

Whew.

Feliciano and Lovino were what kept Alfred from having his neck broken along with his nose, but man! Did they ever look terrified as they tackled their own boss, and Alfred couldn't blame them, because their jobs dangled there on the line as Gilbert snarled like the dogs he had once been afraid of. Gilbert raised holy hell, fought tooth and nail to free himself from the brothers' clutches, and when Lovino had managed to get Gilbert on the floor and place a knee on his back, Feliciano pulled out his phone and made a call.

Alfred wiped the blood from his face as best he could, hands shaking, broken nose throbbing, and wondered now where the hell he went from here. Would need a job, and soon.

He just wanted to take Ludwig home.

Subdued by two sets of knees on his back, Gilbert finally stopped struggling, as Lovino murmured to him lowly, trying to calm him, and Feliciano glanced up to meet Alfred's eyes. His droll look clearly read, 'What the fuck did you do?'

A little bit of everything.

Alfred waved his hand in the air dismissively, and Feliciano rolled his eyes before he and Lovino banded together to haul Gilbert to his feet. Lovino was yet muttering, trying to draw Gilbert's attention as Gilbert's head kept twitching in Alfred's direction. Alfred merely picked up his shattered glasses and tucked them into his breast pocket.

But Gilbert's rage had passed, as it always seemed to, and he was perfectly icy and stony once more when he pulled out his own phone. A quick call. Low words.

When Gilbert turned back to face Alfred, Lovino reached out and tangled a big hand in Gilbert's collar to hold him still, but Gilbert made no effort to lunge. Just tried to set Alfred on fire with his gaze, and then the door opened again.

This time, it was Toris who stepped inside hurriedly. He instantly took in the bloody scene, and asked, in a higher voice than Alfred was used to, "What is happening?"

Gilbert turned to look at him, but was very silent, and Feliciano was the one to grunt, "Sorry. I didn't know who else to call."

Gilbert's eyes flitted over Toris' head and back to the door, apparently waiting for something, and it became clear quickly why.

Ludwig came in, having no doubt been one the other end of Gilbert's call. He was rushing, too, no doubt startled by the lack of guards at the door. In his rush, Ludwig stumbled and tottered sideways with his vertigo, falling onto one knee before quickly pulling himself up.

His awful look of panic.

Well, then. Here they all were.

Gilbert spoke at last, as he turned to Lovino and Feliciano and said, sternly, "Back to your posts."

The brothers shared a reluctant look, but obeyed in the end, with so many people there and now that Gilbert seemed calm.

It was the four of them, then, and Ludwig looked frantically back and forth between bloodied Alfred and Gilbert, as if torn about who exactly he was more worried about.

Toris finally broke the impasse, by turning his eyes to Gilbert and saying, stiffly, "Murdering the bodyguard is counterproductive."

Gilbert lifted his chin, turned his frightening eyes to Ludwig, and hissed, very dangerously, "He's no longer a bodyguard. The terms of the contract have been broken."

Ludwig looked shocked and quite devastated. Toris just looked annoyed, obviously irritated at this ambiguity.

Alfred spoke up at last, to say, coolly, "With all due respect, nowhere in my contract did it state that I wasn't allowed to fall in love."

Ludwig's awful inhale, as he realized that Gilbert knew.

Toris' mouth fell open in a strange sort of half-smile, as he gawked in disbelief between Ludwig and Alfred.

Ludwig hung his head, face scrunched up, and seemed to have been drained of all color. When he raised his eyes up to Gilbert, Alfred could see how terrified he was.

Toris, as creepily calm as ever, merely lifted a brow and drawled, derisively, "I did not see this coming, I admit." Toris' pretty eyes flitted over to Ludwig, whose own dropped in what Alfred prayed wasn't shame. Toris sneered, turned his gaze instead to Alfred, and added, so softly, "The best laid plans..."

Alfred refused to flinch or budge, and held his ground.

Toris and Gilbert could howl all they wanted, could send their fiercest typhoon, but Alfred wouldn't bend, wouldn't bow, and wouldn't give Ludwig up.

Alfred could only wait to see if Toris and Gilbert would band together to throw him through that window as he had often feared.

Gilbert's gaze was still heavy atop Ludwig, and so Toris came forward a pace, staring Alfred down and asking, "So what exactly was this all about?"

"I wanted to be fired," Alfred supplied, trying to steady his hands and voice.

Ludwig's crinkled brow of hurt.

"Why's that?" Toris pried. "Too much pressure? Scared?"

"No. I'm going to keep protecting Ludwig. But on my terms. I don't want to answer to anyone but myself. I love him, and I'm gonna stay with him. If that means being fired, then so be it. That's all."

Considered it settled.

At that, Gilbert snapped his eyes away from Ludwig and to Alfred, bristled out once more and eyes wide beneath the blood smearing his skin. Looked as terrifying as Ivan like that, ruffled and wrathful, that dark blood contrasting so eerily with his pale skin. Gilbert twisted at the waist and turned to point his finger at Alfred, quite dramatically, and cried, "Absolutely not! I forbid it! You hear? You have no place in this line—"

This line.

Ludwig had said that Gilbert considered their line sacred, and it was clear then for Alfred to see exactly how much Gilbert truly believed that, and Ludwig was once more tarnishing that sacred line with someone Gilbert deemed unfit. Ivan had never been close to good enough for Gilbert, and Alfred must have been even worse. At least Ivan had had money and power and brilliance, position, ambition. Alfred was...

Well. Gilbert had already told Alfred exactly what he thought of him.

Ludwig was as pale as a sheet, and Alfred hated seeing that terror on his face, as he swayed precariously back and forth under his vertigo.

Toris took a step to the side, putting himself in between Alfred and Gilbert, always the calm moderator, and spoke very softly when he asked, "And what exactly are your intentions? Hm? What do you plan on doing now for work? And who, I wonder, will protect Ludwig?"

"Me," Alfred grunted, thrusting out his chest and trying to appear commanding.

"How will you support yourself?"

"I—"

Alfred stopped short abruptly, and looked around the room a bit. He hadn't thought that far ahead because he was impulsive and brash, and Toris was very well aware of that.

He didn't want Ludwig to think that he was using him, didn't want Toris to think that Alfred didn't intend to work at all, but rather to merely leech off of Ludwig's wealth.

Everything in his head was mixed up. He was a wreck, as emotionally and mentally as Ludwig was, and it might have been very clear then for everyone to see.

Ludwig just stared over at Alfred miserably, looking yet so devastated.

In the end, Alfred finally said, weakly, "I just want to be with him. I don't want your money."

Toris lifted a droll brow, and Gilbert suddenly barged forward, bellowing, "No! Get out! You're fired, as you wished! Get out, and don't come back, I never want to see you again, and don't you dare think about putting your hands on my brother—"

Alfred clenched his fists and prepared to throw down once more as Gilbert advanced on him, but yet again found himself saved by Toris, who snatched Gilbert's collar and dragged him back. That time, fuming Gilbert actually struggled in Toris' grip, as Ludwig ever swayed. Gilbert tried hard to march on Alfred, and Toris was forced to take Gilbert's face into his hands and press his lips against Gilbert's ear.

What Toris whispered to Gilbert then, Alfred could only imagine.

This sacred line that traced back one thousand years, ending here upon the shoulders of a young man that had never stood a chance.

Sometimes, maybe lines were meant to end.

When Gilbert stopped thrashing and started muttering back to Toris, Ludwig took a step towards Alfred, looking confused and lost. Alfred waved his hand in the air, trying to convince him to come the rest of the way.

Ludwig made it one more step before Gilbert suddenly grabbed his arm, pulled him up to his chest, and began hissing at him in German.

Toris took charge of Alfred once more, and laid down the law.

"This is highly inappropriate. And I think you're remarkably out of line. You should really learn your place, and I wish more than anything that I could put you there. With that said, well. It's all a bit too late, isn't it. Here we are. Too much now has been said and done. Until those papers or signed or this ends another way, you are to remain on retainer. Your contract is not terminated. This is your job, for as long as I say it is. You can't quit until I tell you that you can quit. That's all. It's as simple as that. The sooner you get rid of this problem, the sooner we can all sit down and figure something out. Until then, this is your charge, and he will be until I say otherwise."

And that was that.

Toris gave no room for argument, and Alfred lowered his eyes in defeat.

All of this had been a mistake.

'Get rid of this problem.' Alfred had tried, he had, the gun had just been too damn heavy.

Gilbert shook Ludwig, laying down his own law no doubt, and Ludwig's squinted eyes gave away how hurt he was by whatever Gilbert was saying.

Gilbert still had hold of Ludwig when he turned to Alfred and spat, "Get out. Now."

From the look on Gilbert's face, that glass floor had Ludwig's name written all over it, could easily see it, and there was no way in hell.

Instead of leaving, Alfred marched forward, grabbed Ludwig's other arm, and demanded, simply, "Let him go."

Gilbert's look of wrath.

"How dare you—"

"I'm not fired, you said! So I'm still doing my job. Get off him. Now."

Alfred lowered his hand to the hilt of the gun Gilbert had procured him, and Toris scoffed, at the sheer audacity.

Oh, that awful look on Gilbert's face! Coulda frozen the entire Earth down to the very core.

Toris as always diffused the situation, by grabbing Gilbert's arm and pulling him back, as Alfred did Ludwig. The volatile siblings were parted without further violence, and Alfred felt clammy and nauseous. Wanted to get outta here, and yesterday, because Ludwig looked a breath away from either vomiting or bawling.

Obvious for all to see, no doubt, for Toris looked at Ludwig and said, "Go home for the day."

Alfred needed no further prodding, and began dragging Ludwig out of the office with a shaky exhale.

In the end, it was only because Gilbert and Toris hated Ivan so much that they finally stepped back and let events unfold as they would. Presently, they still had power over Alfred, as his employers, and therefore still had control over Ludwig. Ivan was uncontrollable, and so Gilbert didn't snap Alfred's neck, didn't scrub Ludwig out of the will, and Toris just grimaced and shook his head but didn't berate Ludwig verbally and didn't throw Alfred from the office window.

Ludwig was so quiet.

Alfred was grateful, above all else, that Gilbert hadn't replicated the past and gave Ludwig one more ultimatum :

Everything, or Alfred.

Ludwig had chosen Ivan without question, sure, but Alfred? He wasn't so sure where he stood in Ludwig's eyes, but didn't think it was quite that great. Alfred had no security blanket.

As they walked down the street in a stupor, Ludwig asked, suddenly, "Why did you do that?"

Because he was fuckin' stupid.

Instead of being painfully honest, Alfred muttered, "I'm sorry. I just... I don't want you to be my job. I want you to be with me because you wanna be, not because you haveta be. I didn't want— I wanted ya to know that I love ya, that I ain't here just because someone is paying me."

Alfred stared straight ahead, too afraid to look over.

A long, awful silence, before Ludwig finally murmured, "I already knew that."

Feeling so dumb, ridiculous, Alfred just repeated, "I'm sorry."

They went home, sat down, Ludwig tended Alfred's broken nose, and didn't speak for hours. Alfred had yet again screwed up just about everything possible, and was ashamed of himself. Almost didn't want Ludwig to see him, and retreated quickly into the bedroom in the late afternoon to hide away under the blankets.

It surprised him a little when Ludwig crawled in the bed with him an hour or so later, hunkering down and burrowing into him.

Again, Alfred uttered, "I'm sorry."

A long silence, before Ludwig ran a hand down his shoulder, and whispered, deeply, "I love you."

The first time Ludwig had ever said that.

Alfred rolled onto his side, embraced Ludwig, and they passed that awful day away hiding from the world.

Gilbert didn't text Alfred anymore after that day, not even for a report, likely because he found Alfred just that repulsive. Toris was the one who asked for updates, and Alfred knew that they were now more impatient than ever as they awaited Alfred's justifiable act of homicide.

So they could gladly fire him without risking Ludwig.

He wasn't granted a chance, for Ivan hadn't made an appearance since he had stared Alfred down before the office building.

June ended, and July came around, bringing with it Alfred's birthday.

They had attempted to pretend nothing had ever happened, Ludwig and Alfred, and had mostly put it behind them. Alfred pretended he wasn't a dumbass, and Ludwig pretended that everything would be alright and that Gilbert had accepted it and would let him be happy.

Ludwig didn't know fully why Gilbert and Toris had let Alfred leave the office that day, what they were waiting for.

Didn't matter, when Alfred woke up that morning to Ludwig kissing him and playing with his hair. As soon as he opened his eyes, Ludwig immediately murmured, "Happy birthday. Feel old yet?"

Alfred scoffed, and grumbled, "Yeah, I do. You've worn me out."

Ludwig smiled, and kissed him again.

After breakfast, Ludwig snuck up behind Alfred and then reached around him to hold out a little box. A birthday present. Ha. It was kinda funny that Ludwig didn't know how very unaccustomed Alfred was to receiving a birthday present. More often than not, his birthday had been entirely forgotten, even by himself.

It was small box, velvet, and Alfred teased, as Ludwig wrapped arms around his neck from behind, "Are you finally proposing to me?"

As soon as he said it, Alfred regretted it. Hadn't thought about it, really, but Ludwig's silence was telling to how that might have stung.

But Ludwig pulled it together quickly, and threw back, "You wish."

Yeah. Maybe. There would be a proposal one day, for sure, but Alfred wanted to be the one to get down on one knee and make a show of it.

Alfred opened up the box, and hissed air threw his teeth.

A watch, and a ridiculously expensive one at that. Jesus Christ.

Ludwig buried his face in Alfred's hair, and muttered, "You don't have to wear it if you don't like it. You can sell it, if you want."

A sting of his ego and pride.

Toris had thrown out Alfred's precarious financial situation without them, and maybe Ludwig was trying too hard to remedy that. Without these men, he was destitute once more, everyone knew that, and it was hurtful to his hopes of whisking Ludwig off, knowing that Ludwig was the one who was the breadwinner. Alfred could never support Ludwig like he was used to, and staring down at the watch reminded Alfred of that.

But it was a gift from Ludwig, who he loved, so Alfred said, honestly, "I love it. Thanks."

Wouldn't sell it, ever, however bad things got. Something from Ludwig he would have kept until the end of the Earth.

Once more, Alfred passed the day in a daze, thinking too much and feeling vulnerable.

He loved Ludwig, and wished that he could have been better for him.

A better man.

As Alfred walked back from the office shortly after, he glanced up, and fell still when he walked past a travel agency. Didn't know why. He saw the poster of mountains there, felt a pang of homesickness, and let his mind wander.

Home.

Couldn't go outside here, because it was dangerous. Ludwig was cooped up. Stressed.

Alfred was impulsive, very much so, and so he randomly walked into that agency. He walked out two hours later, with a little envelope. He twisted it over and over in his hands as the clock ticked, and when he went to pick Ludwig up, he felt a little queasy with anticipation.

Ludwig didn't notice, too busy eyeing the trees wistfully as the sun shined overhead.

Then night came, and Alfred took the envelope out from a drawer, clenched it in his hands, and took a breath for courage.

Ludwig chatted away over dinner, oblivious to Alfred's anxiety.

It was the most nervous Alfred had been in a long, long time, when he finally handed the envelope over to Ludwig across the table, during a moment of comfortable silence. Ludwig quirked a brow, took it, and opened it quickly up.

"What's this?" he asked, as he pulled out the tickets.

Alfred shifted and shuffled, and probably looked as nervous as he felt, finally uttering, "It's my birthday, ya know, so I thought I'd..."

Ludwig glanced up, smiling, and teased, "You're giving me a present on your birthday? I think you're confused."

"You make me that way," Alfred honestly said, without thinking, and Ludwig seemed a bit abashed, embarrassed, lowering his eyes back down.

"So," Ludwig murmured, after a study of the destination. "You want to go home for a while?"

"Yeah. I thought— We don't have to go, if you don't want. I just thought it would be nice to spend a week down there. I was gonna take you on a little road trip through the mountains. Stay in a cabin, maybe, out in the woods. It's nice there. You'll like it."

Vague memories from childhood, on the very rare trips his parents had taken them on, to the Appalachian mountains. Mist and fog in the morning, over the multicolored trees in the cool air of fall. Nostalgia. Fireflies in the trees towards the end of summer.

The gold light of the sun streaming in through the leaves. Dust.

Ludwig's smile softened, and his expression was quite calm when he looked up at Alfred and said, quietly, "I can't wait."

Relief.

The next day, Ludwig put in for a long overdue week of vacation, probably to Gilbert's fury, and Alfred once more felt himself rising up in hope.

Nine days later, they were taking suitcases to the airport, and Alfred was in the clouds long before the plane actually took off. How surreal and beautiful it was, sitting next to Ludwig on a flight and knowing where they were going. He had a cabin ready, a rental car, everything, and Ludwig stared happily out of the plane window as Alfred could have burst with elation.

Ludwig was practically beaming with they landed in Charlotte, and Alfred was very puffed out when he took the door of the rental car, opened it with a flourish, and teased, with a bow, "Welcome to my domain."

Ludwig snorted, rather snootily got in the car and crossed his long legs, as Alfred shut the door like Ludwig was in fact a princess.

The drive was absolutely dreamy, perfectly otherworldly, as Alfred saw familiar sights and signs for the first time in ten years.

Going home, more or less.

The mountains came after a few hours, and Ludwig perked up and gawked out of the window so happily. The countryside rolling by, forests and cliffs and little waterfalls.

When they were deep in the Appalachian mountains, Alfred drove Ludwig up to their final destination; that little cabin, hidden so far out in the woods, no other building visible at all.

Ludwig's smile was bright, endless, constant, crinkling his eyes and showing his teeth. He was more beautiful than the scenery, and Alfred stared over at him for a long while after he cut the ignition of the car. Ludwig was positively bouncing in his seat in a very rare show of emotion, probably because he was just so relieved and happy to be able to go outside and know that it was safe to do so. There was no Ivan here, and Ludwig had no need to fear the sounds of the forest.

The only thing Ludwig needed to be afraid of here was the mosquitoes, and they laughed a little bit as they ran and screeched during the long process of taking the bags into the cabin while fighting away the hoards.

Alfred was prepared for that, too, and teased Ludwig relentlessly as he sprayed him head to toe with mosquito repellant.

A small price to pay.

The heat wasn't so bad, but the humidity was killer, and poor Ludwig was sweating up a storm by the time they had walked around the woods a little and found a spot they liked. A clearing in the trees atop a hill, where the mountains farther in the distance were visible.

When they sat down and Alfred smoothed back Ludwig's disheveled hair, Alfred considered this 'their place'.

Somewhere that they could run away to, somewhere just for them, a secret spot that neither Ivan nor Gilbert knew about, somewhere to hide away from the world and its problems.

When the sun began setting later, the fireflies came out, lighting up the trees all around them in a great blaze of blinks. So many of them, so many, more than Alfred remembered, and Ludwig's eyes swept over the trees, soft smile somehow prettier than the beaming one.

Ethereal, in some dumb way, for how simple it all was.

Ludwig didn't need the bells and whistles.

An owl hooted somewhere, birds called and chattered as they settled for the night, the pines swayed in the warm wind of summer, and the moon hung on high. This time, when the sounds from within the forest broken the silence, Ludwig didn't flinch, didn't panic, and that was Alfred's favorite part so far of this entire venture.

Ludwig smiled, serenely, and leaned over to rest his head on Alfred's shoulder.

"Do you like it here?" Alfred finally gathered the courage to ask, and Ludwig made a deep, rumbling noise of contentment in his chest.

"I love it," Ludwig supplied, and Alfred felt that old hope surge up.

Wanted to live in a place like this, home, with Ludwig right here next to him.

This was what he wanted the rest of their lives to feel like. Wanted every day to be like this, as they sat side by side on a blanket atop green grass, warm against each other as the wind blew through the trees all around them. Just them, and no one else, in their own universe, where nothing ever went wrong or fell apart.

Alfred was in love, and soon he would ask Ludwig to create a home with him.

Soon.

Gilbert knew. Toris knew. Ivan knew. They were established, a true couple. There seemed to be nothing left to hold them back. Alfred didn't have anything to be afraid of, because Ludwig had said that he loved him.

Fireflies.