I've been reading a lot of books about cities.

0o0o0o

'So.' Gilbert looked faintly amused still, a smirking curl to his smile as he nodded to Feliciano's brother. 'You're Antonio's?'

'No,' Lovino snapped, flushing red. 'Antonio and I are both our own damn selves. We don't have anything in common except knowing you.'

'Of course.' Gilbert turned to Feliciano, who was mesmerized by his coppery eyes. 'My little brother said you wanted to meet a writer.'

'Yes,' Feliciano squeaked.

'Well, you're in luck, because I'm the most awesome writer in this tiny American town, not that that's any sort of accomplishment.' He paused, apparently trying to think up a better title. 'Best writer this side of Houston, actually. Ask anybody.'

'Antonio says you write more letters than actual manuscripts,' Lovino interjected. Gilbert flashed him a smile.

'Tell him I'm going to get famous just like Byron did.' He pulled the chain on the mower and it growled back to life. 'I'll see you around, Vargas. Both of you.'

He swung back over the fence, and Feliciano jumped as his grandfather spoke.

'So we finally meet the elusive Gilbert,' he commented. Feliciano hadn't noticed he'd come outside, and was embarrassed they'd just stood around so long, but his excitement overrode that.

'He's really cool, isn't he? And he knows how to fix motors!' Feliciano grabbed the handles of the lawnmower in example and pushed it forward, making Lovino shout and jump out of the way. 'I want to ask him how to hotwire a car!'

'Now, I don't want any grandson of mine turning out to be some punk biker boy.' Roma chuckled. 'Lovino, don't let him get any ideas into his head. And you, Gilbert!' he called.

'Yeah?' Gilbert called back, halfway to the front door. Feliciano didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or thrilled. Lovino was groaning into his hands beside him.

'Don't go teaching my boys anything!' Roma yelled.

'Yes, sir.' Gilbert saluted and, grinning, went inside.

'Now that that's settled, you two can finish mowing the lawn. And don't run the mower into any rocks!'

Feliciano mostly pushed the lawnmower around while Lovino kicked sticks and rocks out of the way. After most of the grass was gone, the yard looked less like a jungle and more like someone had attempted drastic landscaping and given up halfway through, leaving only a few flowerbeds intact. When they got to the mulchy, torn-up part of the lawn, Feliciano saw his sword and raced ahead to pull it out.

'Look, Lovino!'

'Yes, it's a very nice stick.' Lovino was concentrating more on not letting the mower fall over from where it had been abandoned, and Feliciano heard him mutter a few more words under his breath as it tipped onto its side anyways.

'Do you think I could swordfight when I grow up? Would Nonno also tell me not to be a swordfighter like he jokes about punks?'

'Fence. You can fence, and you can do it any time you want.' Lovino looked up, and Feliciano saw a hint of the familiarity they'd had before the announcement they were moving halfway across the world to a tiny town in America. 'I don't think Nonno would like it if you sliced up his Roman-inspired furniture, but I certainly would appreciate not having to hear the lectures about it,' he said, and Feliciano was elated to see his hint of a smile.

'What if I become a punk biker boy?' Feliciano pushed.

Lovino glanced back at the house. 'What if you become an artist?'

'Is punk art?' Feliciano jumped up and clapped his hands. 'I can ask Antonio, he seems to know a lot about art! He got you to bookmark two pages in that Life in Wartime book you're always carrying around, so maybe he can tell me what lifestyle punk is.'

'Probably not one Nonno would like, and I still don't know where he lives.'

'Gilbert probably does. Hurry up, I want to talk to Ludwig and then we can go find Antonio.'

Lovino seemed to work faster after that, and even though he continually snapped at Feliciano to stop talking so much while he was busy, his face was easy and open.

0o0o0o

Gilbert opened the door, and Feliciano was secretly glad that it wasn't his scary grandfather instead.

'Nice to see you, Vargases, you caught us at a good time,' he greeted, swinging the door nearly shut behind him.

'Lovino wants to know where Antonio lives,' Feliciano explained. Lovino discreetly kicked him in the back of the leg, and he yelped. 'I mean, where's Antonio?'

'He lives down the road, I was just about to go see him myself. I'll take you down to see him, Lovino.'

'Thanks,' Lovino muttered, still evidently annoyed that Feliciano had said he wanted to know where Antonio lived. Feliciano didn't know why, because it was true, wasn't it?

'And you, Feliciano. My brother will probably want to see you.' He turned and shouted something in German up the stairs. Feliciano only recognized the bitte part of it from yesterday, and resolved to ask Ludwig about it.

Ludwig appeared at his brother's side, hair mussed. Gilbert clicked his tongue and smoothed the stray edges down.

'Did you just wake up?'

'No, I was-' He broke off abruptly when he met Feliciano's eyes and smiled. Feliciano felt an answering giddy smile take over him. That was a good sign. His grandfather had always said that if someone made you smile just by seeing them, they were very important to you.

'Hello,' Feliciano said.

'Hello,' Ludwig replied.

'Right, you two have fun. Feliciano, don't let my brother get into any trouble. Lovino, Antonio is this way.' Gilbert nudged his brother out of the doorway.

They ended up in the garden again, sitting in the tree. Feliciano swung his legs, even though it made him feel unstable on his perch, like he was going to fall off. He leaned back into the branches and let himself feel like falling and rising up at the same time into the sky exactly the same colour as Ludwig's eyes. After a moment, he saw Ludwig do the same.

'Do you ever watch the clouds?' Feliciano asked. 'Lie down and do nothing but that for hours?'

'No.' Ludwig shifted on his branch. 'I think I might fall asleep. Besides, I wouldn't really be doing anything.'

Feliciano giggled. Looking up at the dizzying wideness of the sky, everything seemed close and far away at once. 'You're not doing nothing, Ludwig, you're having fun! And if you fall asleep, that's okay, I usually fall asleep when I do it, too, and then Lovino has to come and get me, and he acts like he's angry for making him walk all the way to the shed during supper time, but he really doesn't mind.' Feliciano's smile slipped. 'I mean, that's what we used to do when we lived in Italy. But it's still the same sky here, the same moon and sun and stars. Isn't that amazing, Ludwig? That we can look at the same stars as a million other people and all think they're beautiful at the same time? Stars are a constant of humanity, which I feel like people forget too often. We can't forget those constant things because they make the world better.'

'It...it is rather amazing.' Ludwig sounded a bit breathless. He turned his head to look at Feliciano and went quiet, and so did Feliciano, until he thought he could feel his heartbeat in every breath. If anything, Feliciano thought, a little dizzy, Ludwig's eyes were bluer than the sky.

'You can come watch the clouds with me any time you want,' Feliciano offered, strangely hoping he'd accept. Ludwig nodded, and Feliciano smiled in relief.

They rolled onto their backs again, and Feliciano stretched out his arms, enjoying the rough bark under his hands. His cap was a good cushion under his head. With a start, he remembered what he originally meant to ask.

'Ludwig, what does bitte mean?'

'It means 'please'.'

'In Italian, 'please' is per favore.'

'Per favore,' Ludwig repeated. 'Like a knight's favour?'

'Maybe.' Feliciano contemplated it. 'I mean, a knight's favour keeps you safe, right? And I guess saying please can also keep you safe, because you wouldn't believe the stories Nonno told me when Lovino and I were younger about what happened to little boys who didn't say please. So maybe it's a little like a knight's favour in case you ever meet an angry old man? I've never heard of anyone getting seriously hurt by an old man, though.'

'Nobody...' Ludwig shifted as if he was going to say something but thought better of it. Feliciano was too worried to pry. He felt like he'd said something wrong, but he didn't know what it was.

'You can't really see the clouds from inside the tree,' Feliciano pointed out, trying clumsily at something other than the quiet pensiveness that had taken Ludwig over. 'Do you want to go climb something higher?'

'Gilbert said not to let me get into any trouble,' Ludwig said.

'Well, I'm the one getting you into trouble, since I came up with the idea.' Feliciano caught his answering smile, but it faded.

'What if we fall and get hurt? Or we damage something?' Ludwig propped himself up on his elbows, worry shining in his eyes.

'I won't let you fall,' Feliciano assured him. 'And falling doesn't even hurt, it's like flying!'

'Flying isn't like that.' Ludwig looked away. 'I-Feliciano, I…'

It hit him like a lightning bolt, lighting up pieces of the boy with the bluer-than-sky eyes he'd never stopped to consider beyond his stubborn pride and strength.

'Ludwig, are you scared of heights?' Feliciano asked, and Ludwig froze.

Feliciano's chest flooded with ice, and then molten metal, and then glass shards. He'd overstepped the lines of their fledgling friendship, he'd ruined this, Ludwig would close off and turn away and Feliciano would always be the one who spoke too quickly to him.

'Yes.' Ludwig took a long, shuddering breath, and Feliciano felt it in his lungs, too, scratchy with relief and old worries still catching in his throat. 'I-I am not scared of the height. I love being in planes. I am scared of falling.'

'That's okay.' Feliciano sat up, too, and grabbed his hand. Ludwig met his eyes in surprise, and Feliciano was shocked at himself for being so bold, but he did not regret a second. He squeezed his hand. 'I'm scared of things, too, like war and guns.'

'Those are rational fears,' Ludwig said. 'I don't like war, either.'

'War terrifies me past explanation. I'm also scared of slivers and breaking my fingers.' Feliciano laughed embarrassedly. 'Because I'd never be able to paint again, and I don't know what I'd do without art. Ludwig, it's okay to be scared of falling. If you come with me, I will not let you fall. I promise.'

Ludwig stared at him for a long second before he nodded slightly and squeezed Feliciano's hand back.

0o0o0o

Behind all the overgrown grass, there was the back fence, which was tall and old and wooden and splintery and begging to be climbed, even if he was still worried about slivers.

'I'll show you how to do it.' Feliciano took a running start and launched himself at the gap in the slats, scrambling to the top. It was a lot higher than the fence between their gardens. Feliciano slipped off the fence and landed in the feathery grass.

'Ready?'

'I need instructions!' Ludwig started suddenly, flushing red. 'Where to put your feet and-and how to move, and how not to fall.'

'You won't fall, I'll be behind you the entire time.' Feliciano reaches out and pressed their palms together. 'You don't need instructions. Humans were born to fly.'

Something forged hot and bright and unsteady in Ludwig's bluer-than-sky eyes, and he nodded. He grabbed the first gap in the wood perfectly, and threw back a smile. He was almost at the top when he suddenly froze.

Feliciano's stomach filled with ice, but he forced his voice into calm. He couldn't freeze up now, not like he always did before. There was nobody to help him, and he had to take care now.

'You're doing well,' Feliciano said, keeping his voice low and even, like Ludwig had been when he spoke about war. 'Put your left hand on that knot there, and then move your right hand to the same place and swing over the top.

'I'm going to fall,' Ludwig whispered shakily.

'You won't. I have you. Move your left hand.'

'I'm scared.' Ludwig sounded broken, almost, choked.

'I know.' Panic was rising in Feliciano's throat, a sour, silent, suppressed scream, but he could not leave this to somebody else. 'Ludwig, listen to me. Would I let you fall?'

'Feliciano-'

'Would I?'

Silence, so thick and heartbreaking that Feliciano couldn't breathe.

'No.'

'I won't let you fall. Now move your left hand.'

Ludwig did, in a jerky, quick, puppet-like movement, and swung himself onto the top of the fence. All the breath rushed back into Feliciano's body, and he couldn't help cheering and scrambling up after him.

'You did really well,' Feliciano told him, and Ludwig nodded but stared out into the garden.

'Please don't tell anyone I'm scared of falling.'

'I'll never tell anyone,' Feliciano promised, and Ludwig's eyes flicked up to meet his, silent and grateful.

0o0o0o

Finding out the context and theme of any city in a work is difficult but enjoyable.

:: Old towns on old maps