Pairings brought up/mentioned: Gerita

-2.36-

I sit on a couch in the casual lounge, sipping at the tea Arthur had made to ease my nerves. My lips are turned downwards in a short pout, eyebrows raised at the center.

"Hold on a moment, didn't you say assassination attempts were normal here?" Next to me, Luddy looks at Toni in a state of misunderstanding.

The Spaniard sitting across from us nods his head. "Si! The pursuit of murder's routine. That's why I'm always wandering around; I'm making sure nothing suspicious is happening. I was pretty surprised when we were let off the hook for, like, two weeks."

Fratello huffs in disdain from his place beside Toni, "Yeah, they're common, especially with the 'darling sweetheart of Europe.' But it's not like we actually tell Feli anything."

The gray wolf groans, "... And that's why he fainted?"

"Pretty much."

I subconsciously scooch closer to my companion. The room is unusually quiet for our family. However, I suppose this is because the others were kicked out before the three present began talking, Lovino saying, "Feli doesn't need anymore loud, melodramatic bullshit right now, so fuck off!" I thought it would be nice to get some peace at the time, but now I'm not too sure I like the silence. It feels foreboding and tense.

"You people really need to start letting him in on things," Ludwig's eye twitched slightly, "How would you like it if no one told you that you were almost killed? It's kind of an important thing, you know."

Fratello snaps indignantly, "Excuse you? Are you questioning my competence as Feliciano's brother? You have no right. You don't know him nearly as well as I do! Hell, I've been a part of his life since birth; we're twins, for fuck's sake! If anyone knows what's best for Feli, it's me, and what's best is for him to not have to deal with absolute cazzo like this! You saw first hand what happens when we let him into the loop, so you should understand by now exactly why we don't give him every little detail about how close he came to death. We keep quiet about it and move on, end of story!"

At this point, Lovino's stood up, arms raised in frustration, fingers occasionally jabbing in Ludwig's direction. His face is flushed an angry red, eyes dilated in intensity. This can't end well.

"U-um, guys, can we go get pasta?" I pull at Ludwig's arm desperately, trying to get out of this discussion. "I think that'd be really nice; I really, really like pasta! Don't you agree, fratello?" My gaze shifts to Lovino, "Isn't pasta just the best?"

He looks at me for a hard moment, then releases a long-suffering sigh, "Si, pasta sounds great right about now."

I grin, springing up from my seat to drag the hunky German out. "Come on, Luddy! I want linguini!" Ludwig simply goes with it, face the epitome of bafflement.

I drag him out the door, and sigh in relief. My eyes shift back to him after a time, my pace slowing. Ever attentive, he notices almost immediately.

"Feli? Are you alright?" His eyebrows scrunch together in the center out of concern. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

I can't help the soft smile on my lips, "It's fine, really. I'm okay with fratello hiding stuff from me as long as it's for my own good! Now, let's go eat pasta and be happy, alright?"

"Of course." Ludwig agrees after but a moment of hesitation, but I can tell he's still troubled by this. His gaze is laced with that same, far away finish I tend to get a lot. Funny how the one time I seem to think the clearest, he's off in the clouds. Ironic, even.

Cheerful mood renewed, I pull him along, a flighty tune in my head.

I like pasta~!

Pasta innocently sits in its bowl, watching as I consume its friends. Good thing pasta's food and food can't see, or this would be horrible! A beam stretches across my face, despite it being full of the delicious mid-afternoon snack. Across the table from myself is Ludwig, carefully following my movements with a plaintive look. I briefly wonder what he's thinking about, but decide better than to ask and continue absent-mindedly nomming down.

"Yo, Feli, what's up?" I turn to flash a smile at Gilbert, the loud wolf making his entrance and plopping into the seat next to me.

"Ciao, Gilbert!" From the corner of my eye, I passingly notice him nod at his brother in acknowledgement. "I'm eating pasta while Luddy has that weird expression he always gets when he thinks too hard about something."

His visage goes blank. "I do not-"

Ludwig's interrupted as the other gives a hearty guffaw, "Hell yeah! Man, that is so typical, West!"

"I know, right?" I laugh along. "I still haven't figured what's up with that face."

Gilbert shrugs loosely. "It's not like there's anything 'up' with him; he just likes to think through things before he does them. Nothing wrong with that." He grins wickedly, "Anyways, I just came over here because I thought it'd be entertaining. Roddy's on the phone with Eliza again."

"Ve~ Really? I want to talk to mama!"

"Oh no you don't!" He pats me on the back. "If you start talking to her, she'll ramble on, and on, and on about your health and personal welfare. Before we know it, you'll have fainted again from her overwhelming amount of worries!"

"So I take it Roderich is informing the twins' mother of Feliciano's… er… 'incident?'"

"Yup! Or at least, that's what I got out of it. I really hate it when they speak stupid Hungarian while I'm within hearing range," He breaks off in a groan, "Shit, you don't think they're talking about me behind my back, do you?"

The blond gives Gilbert a hard look, "That is most definitely what they are doing."

The arctic wolf glares at Ludwig. I giggle. "Why would anyone diss the awesome me?! I'm the greatest thing ever, living or not!"

"Sure. And that's why you sing stupid parodies of pop songs in the shower, changing the lyrics to focus on your supposed awesomeness."

His cheeks ignite, whether in shame or frustration being unknown. "I do not!"

"Yes you do."

"Do not!"

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"Do too."

"Do no-!"

"GILBERT, KNOCK IT OFF."

Quiet reigns supreme for a time. Then, Ludwig speaks up, "Was that Roderich? From the other side of the house?!"

"Fucking hell, HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW I WAS ARGUING AGAIN?!" The arctic wolf whines a pathetic, over-dramatic sound, setting his head onto the table with a bang.

The panicky sound of a vase shattering on the floor echoes throughout the halls, coupled with a string of angry, British curses. "OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE, IF YOU'RE GOING TO YELL AT EACH OTHER, CAN YOU AT LEAST DO IT FACE-TO-FACE?!"

"... And now Arthur's mad at us too. Way to go, bruder."

"Wha- how is this my fault?" Gilbert exclaims, "I was just responding to the fact that Roddy apparently has super low expectations for me! I mean, come on, West. He yelled at me from across the mansion without fully knowing we were being dicks, just because he thinks I'm that much of a war-mongering idiot!"

"Wait, you mean you're not?" I blink.

Ludwig sighs, "You do realize you're only justifying his view of you by picking yet another fight, correct?"

He fixes his brother with a firm glower, before abruptly standing up, pushing his chair further away from the table. "Alright, nope, I'm done with this. I'm getting a beer." Gilbert begins to walk off, then calls over his shoulder with a failingly-cool wink, "Later, loser, bye, Feli! The awesome me is out."

All throughout dinner, Lovino glares at his food as he eats, shoving his meal into puffed-up cheeks before finished with what's already in there. This doesn't look like it's going to end well. I don't want fratello to be mad at people! I nervously shift my gaze to Ludwig's. He minisculely shrugs in response, appearing just as uneasy as myself. Meanwhile, everyone else acts oblivious, conversing amongst themselves and pretending to not notice the dark aura gathering around my twin. Accidenti.

I slowly eat my pasta, nervously watching as fratello viciously jabs at his plate. The tension continues its gradual build, Lovino creating a steady rhythm of stab-shovel-chew, stab-shovel-chew, stab-shovel-chew. The utensil makes grating, scraping noises that caress the ear none-too-gently every time he forces more food from his dish, as my nerves spike, face twitching, expression wobbly-

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Before I have the chance to freak out, Arthur does so for me, fork and knife falling to his plate in short-lived clinks. "This is getting us nowhere! Yeah, sometimes we're not entirely honest with each other; so what? Nobody's perfect! Everyone messes up! We're all entitled to keeping secrets, so why is it such a big deal?!" He takes a deep, long-suffering breath before ordering with a stern glare, "Now, apologize. Both of you."

For a suffocating moment, they stare at each other. Then, Ludwig's expression eases into its natural state of equanimity.

"I'm sorry," He begins, "It was wrong of me to intervene like that. After all, you're twins and have therefore known each other for far, far longer than me. Who am I to criticize actions regarding your brother simply because of our bond?" He stands, extended an arm towards the other. "Truce?"

Fratello gives the hand a hard look, but relents, "Fine, whatever. I don't like you, but Feli does, so I guess I have to try," He shakes the wolf's hand robotically. "Truce."

As they sit back down to finish eating, Toni claps a hand onto Lovino's shoulder with a soft smile. "I'm proud of you, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," He seeths, aggressively stabbing at his plate once more to hide the blush quickly infecting his face. "I said I'd try, but I'm not making any promises, so don't get your fucking hopes up!"

"Hey, Luddy, remember the time we fell off the roof and almost died?"

The wolf gives me a funny look, "Feli, that's not a good thing. You really need to be more careful."

I laugh, shifting my gaze back to the stars above. "What do you mean? That was a great memory! I mean, si, I fell off the roof, but I got some grade-A inspiration from that. Plus, you saved me and I got to feel your beefy biceps!" Another giggle escapes me, his blush so strong I can practically feel the heat of its burn.

"... I'm not quite sure how to respond to that."

"You don't have to," I lay my hand flat against the cold shingles, spread invitingly at my side. "I'm just glad you let me come back up here at all after what happened last time."

My smile grows as he takes the bait, fingers shyly interlocking with mine. "S-sure. It's just, as long as I'm here with you, I'm certain you'll be fine. Protecting you is my job now."

"Yeah, you make a good point, but I have a better one."

"Oh really?"

"Si! It's okay for me to be up here now, because whenever you're here, I feel super safe." I beam, "You're strong, smart, nice, you help me tie my shoelaces, and I know that you'll definitely make sure I'm happy and healthy. I feel like I can just fly off into the clouds when I'm around you!"

"I don't think 'flying off into the clouds' is a good thing." He gives me a sideways glance.

I simply laugh and continue, "Ever since you came along, I've even been eating less junk food, because you keep lecturing about how bad it is for me-"

"... 'Lecturing?' Really?"

"-And you've also been acting sort of like a voice of reason, well besides Arthur, because let's face it, he's definitely the most sensible, oh, and did I mention you're really handsome? Like, not just normal amounts of good-looking-ness, you're really, really hunky, and even cousin Francis thinks you're gorgeous, which I suppose doesn't mean much, because Francis sees the inner beauty in everything - he's just like that - but it's a big deal to me, because it validates that I'm not the only one thinking you're really, really attractive, and-"

"FELICIANO!"

I almost burst out laughing as he practically explodes from the intensity of his blush.

A/N:

Hey, guys! This was the final bit of the chapter arc I was so hesitant to post, and that's why it was short and scattered. I wasn't very confident about where I was going with this, and I'm still not too fond of it, but whatever. Basically, this was intended to continue developing the relationships within this train wreck of a family, particularly the tension between Ludwig and Lovino. The end scene was just because I like fluff. Really, that's the only reason I included it; I like fluff, and I wanted a call-back to when Feliciano fell off the roof. Hehehehe...

Anyways, the last subpart of part 2 is 2.4, so that's coming up in a few days. In other news, the twentieth is my fifteenth birthday, meaning I get to update my profile page to say 'fifteen years old' instead of 'fourteen years old.' Big difference, am I right? Also, the break between updates shouldn't be too long after part 2, because I'm almost done with the intermission. Yay! The intermission's at least twice the length of a regular chapter, so expect a long update, then a long hiatus while I write part 3, what I expect to be the longest part. Actually, I spent a huge portion of the previous hiatus just writing the intermission. I kid you not, I spent about two weeks writing that thing. It was crazy.

By the way, guess what the intermission's called? Yes, the parts and intermission have actual titles. The first part was 'A Really, Really Long Time Ago,' and the second's is 'Modern Times.' Real creative, I know. However, I want you guys to guess what the intermission's called, which is pretty much a four-word summary of its plot. Don't worry; the intermission's storyline will become very, very obvious in the next two chapters.

Responses to review(s):

Seele Esser Deutsch: Yeah, no, you're totally right that they're not a Nordic. However, interestingly enough, the Nordics were originally going to show up in this fic. I plan on making a short story after the sequel to talk about them and their lives in this AU! Haha, from my perspective it was one upload on Sunday ,then two on Monday!

maryranstadler1: I love how the characters tend to play off each other! It makes it a breeze to write them in large groups, but almost torture when only one or two are in a piece, you know? I swear, one of the main reasons I have them argue so unrealistically often is because it's easier to give everyone screen time that way.

Bye!