AN: Hahahahahahaha

…

If only I hadn't told that little white lie…

Hmph.

Feliciano inwardly pouted at his earlier decision to let that fib slip off his tongue.

He had reasons for doing it, of course. From past experience, he knew that:

A) Lovino absolutely detested Germans from the very bottom of his heart for some strange, unidentified reason.

B) Lovino was also strangely overprotective of him and didn't usually like it when Feli made a new friend.

And it wasn't like he lied all the time, either! He could count the number of times he hadn't told the truth on ONE HAND.

That's including the one he had told earlier to his brother.

But now he was paying dearly for it. Unfortunately, he couldn't live at Kiku's house forever… and he missed Lovino, anyway.

He missed the way that Lovino carded through his auburn locks as Feli snuggled up to him at night. Lovino always did that, even when they were children, and it always helped to lull Feliciano asleep (especially during the nights where he was stressed out from school finals… or stuff like that).

It was different when he went over to Kiku's house for fun, because he knew that he could go back home anytime he wished. But now… now Feli could only hope (and plead and beg his brother) to be forgiven.

Well… let's see… I have about 2 seconds to figure out how I'm getting Lovi to forgive me, and-

"Feli-chan, you been unusually quiet all throughout today."

His warm amber eyes snapped over and met with Kiku's dark ones.

For a second, he almost looked dangerous, even with a poker face and nonchalant expression, but that's silly to think, it's just Kiku!

Feliciano blinked, and then smiled. "Ve, of course! I, I just-"

"I know you're still worried about yesterday, Feli-chan. You can stay at my place for another day, you know."

"Ve- oh, but I couldn't do that! Besides, I miss Lovi…"

"You can stay at my place for another day."

Feliciano slightly flinched at the tone and scooted a tiny bit away from Kiku.

Why is he being so scary?

"V-ve, I'm still going back home… it's fine, Kiku, don't worry about it, this is all just a big misunderstanding!" He smiled and picked up his backpack from the floor.

"Look, ve, we're pretty much at our stop now. Hehe, don't worry, I've learned my lesson!"

The bus screeched to a halt, and the yellow doors in the front popped open so they could get out.

Feliciano giggled. "C'mon, let's go!"

Kiku grabbed his stuff and slid out of the seat to let Feli out, too. After they walked out, Feliciano practically ran away from Kiku towards his house and knocked on the door.

…

The door was slammed shut and the first thing that Lovino yelled at Feliciano after he pulled him in was…

"NEVER DO THAT STUPID SHIT AGAIN, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

Then Feli's face got smushed into Lovino's chest, Lovino's arms and hands grasping tightly onto Feliciano's figure as if he would never see him again.

Fuck it all, he missed the little shit. He craved the boy's presence the night he had left, and he sure as hell wouldn't let him out of his hold anytime soon.

It really was unhealthy, he supposed. Of course, he knew that loving and wanting his own little brother was fucked up to begin with, but this… this need, this desire, this requirement that Feliciano HAD to be with him… he was so, so far gone.

And now he HAD to get Feliciano to stop those tears, because it just didn't look right on him. Sure, his brother was a crybaby, but this utter weeping of despair… that was not right. It WASN'T FUCKING RIGHT, AND DAMN IT, THAT NEEDED TO STOP.

Lovino sighed and relaxed his arms a little.

"Dipshit… stop crying, you big baby."

More tears squeezed out of Feliciano's eyes, and he apologies poured out as he repeated "M-mi dispiace, f-fratellone!" like a mantra… over, and over, and over again.

Lovino didn't think he would ever get the comforting-another-person thing right. Ever.

But… Feli was starting to calm down. Lovino guessed it was because he wasn't acting as angry with him as he had before. He was calling him names again in a moderate tone of voice, so at least that was better than the yelling.

That's fucked up. Feliciano is calming down because I'm calling him names.

But then Feliciano had whispered something, something very quietly so that Lovino almost didn't hear him. It was a combination of words that made Lovino feel like Feliciano had a very, very sharp needle, and a very, very short spool of thread.

Because the holes that had torn while Feliciano was gone would be mended with the needle and thread. He needn't worry about that.

"Ti voglio bene, Lovino…"

But the needle that Feliciano was using was sharp.

"Mi dispiace, fratellone. I-you-... you are my big brother, and you always will be… I shouldn't have lied! Please..."

He was clumsy. He tore new scars and gashes in Lovino's patchwork heart.

"I'm so sorry for lying to you, Lovino! I swear, I'll always tell you everything! Ve, I just didn't want you to be upset with me… please forgive me, Lovi! Ve…"

But Feliciano didn't have nearly enough thread to mend the new holes.

Unfortunately, the cuts were now in the places where it would hurt the most.

…

Their dinner had an uncomfortable miasma plaguing the environment surrounding Lovino and Feliciano. They had sat in tense silence before Feliciano suddenly spoke, "Fratellone? You aren't still mad at me, right? Because I don't want you to be mad at me anymore!"

Dumbass idiot doesn't know how to read the atmosphere, Lovino thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. But at least this should lighten up this horrible awkwardness, he reasoned.

"Yes, I forgave you a long time ago. Now shut up and finish your dinner." he snapped (but it really didn't have the same effect as if should have. Even he could hear the indifference in his tone).

Ever chipper Feliciano, who apparently chose to ignore his half-hearted warning, continued rambling with, "That's good! Thank goodness you still like me! I was worried that Lovi wouldn't like me anymore, and then kick me out of the house or something! So anyway, how was work today? Did you say "hi" to fratellone Antonio for me? Oh, and guess what…"

Feliciano's words started to melt together in his mind and create a soothing harmony composed of his steady stream of words. It was nice to listen to. Feliciano's voice was free and optimistic - the type of voice that could say the randomest things but still make you feel like you were floating on clouds. Lovino felt his eyes start to slowly close, and his mind start to calm down and just focus on Feli's beautiful tone of voice.

Imagine how delicious it would sound if it were moaning my name in pleasure-

"WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Lovino suddenly jolted up at his horrible, horrible, horrible realization that he had just been thinking lustful, romantic thoughts about his innocent, innocent little fratellino - who had abruptly stopped his pretty flow of words at Lovino's unexpected shout.

Feliciano slightly cocked his head in confusion. "Ve, what's the matter?"

Lovino blinked in disbelief at him.

He didn't pick up on my dirty thoughts? His mind raced as it entertained this idea, which just happened to by the most wondrous and joyous event that could have occurred in that moment.

"...N-nothing. Go on."

Waves of relief went through him as he gave a deep and heavy sigh and slumped back down in his seat as his paranoid mind started to settle.

Thank fucking god for Feliciano's inability to read the atmosphere.

…

The next day proved to be just like any other, with Feliciano waking up at 6:30 in the morning as a groggy little slug desperately stumbling around for his school clothes, fumbling with a comb to straighten out his hair, and hopelessly trying to brush his teeth simultaneously while doing all of that.

Lovino never even tried to attempt to get out of their bed, and was content with watching Feliciano through his own barely open eyes. And then promptly falling right back asleep after he made sure he heard Feliciano call out to him, "Ciao, Lovino! Have a good day at work!" right before their front door firmly slammed shut in affirmation of Feliciano's going.

Oh, don't throw those disapproving looks at him. He needed his sleep, dammit! His work didn't even start until 9:30am! He could sleep a few more hours without having to drag his lazy ass out of the bed… which, by the way, smelled amazingly of his adorable little fratellone…

No! Stop! Get your fucking mind out of the fucking gutter, Lovino! That's… not… right…

Ugh. It was too early to think too hard about this stuff.

Lovino rolled over and drifted back into his own little dreamland (which may or may not have included Feliciano in short-shorts and a sailor outfit). (Again, may or may not have).

(It also may or may not have had that same Feliciano in short-shorts and a sailor outfit *****[omitted scene]).

(Again, for the second time, it may or may not have had those things in his little dreamland).

…

"Ve, Kiku, today is such a nice day today!" Feliciano chatted amiably.

Kiku, seeing his friend in a good mood once again, gave one of his signature slight smiles back in response.

"I'm glad that everything worked out alright, Feli-kun," he replied as he scooted just a bit closer to Feliciano.

Feliciano just grinned back as they sat together in comfortable (slightly sleepy) silence on the ride to their school.

…

"Hi, Ludwig! How are you?"

Feliciano took his seat next to Ludwig's (which he totally did not choose for a specific reason) and looked towards the blonde boy, expectant and eager for his answer.

Ludwig glanced down at the smiling brunette, and replied with a simple, generic, "Good, how are you?"

Feliciano sighed happily and said, "I'm great! In fact, I felt so great I did my homework at break, right before I came to 3rd period! You know, instead of doing it now!"

Ludwig rolled his eyes at that (unfortunately true) statement. "Good job, Feliciano. I'm very proud of you," he (may or may not have sarcastically) said.

They lapsed into a silence as they pulled out their books, binders, and notebooks to prepare for the class lesson of the day, when suddenly, Ludwig heard Feliciano ask, "Hey, Ludwig? Are we friends?"

The question caught Ludwig of guard, and frankly, it surprised him a lot. Up until then, he had been pretty unsure if they could call each other friends, too, but he had naturally just assumed that if they needed to, they could refer to the other as a friend. After all, they did talk to each other, and Feliciano (keep in mind that this aspect pertains to Feliciano only) always ended up copying homework that he "forgot to do" or "couldn't do because he had to have a siesta" off of Ludwig.

(If Ludwig was being honest though… he didn't really mind).

Ludwig hesitated before answering Feliciano's out of the blue question with, "Well, yes, I consider us friends… unless you do not want us to be friends?"

He added that last bit just in case Feliciano actually hated him and did not want to associate with him at all anymore.

Which, obviously, is not the case.

In this case, Ludwig severely misread Feliciano's feelings for him.

But anyways, Feliciano definitely agreed, judging by his response of "No, no, of course I want to be friends! I just wanted to make sure, ve! I'm so glad were friends, then! Because I really like you!" At that, Feli grinned at Ludwig and hugged him.

...

Oh.

Oh.

A deep red blush quickly blossomed across Ludwig's normally pale and indifferent face at the sudden public display of affection that Feliciano just did.

And then, as an unexpected turn of events…

His arms and hands suddenly raised on their own, too. ON THEIR OWN.

Shaking slightly, they (still on their own!) gently embraced Feliciano's small and slender frame back.

It was just for a second, but once he held Feliciano (just for a bit! And besides, his arms were having a mind of their own in that moment), he felt…

Happy.

Loved.

Appreciated.

All of these warm emotions that made him realize that even though Feliciano could be a hassle that was clingy, overly touchy and emotional, and needy, Feliciano would prove to be a good friend that he could in return, depend on, too.

Again, it was just for a second that they were both in each other's arms (just until Feliciano and Ludwig pulled back at the same time), but it made Ludwig feel all warm and tingly inside.

Just like how some people described a little thing called love…

...

AN: So it was my b-day today and I resolved to FINALLY update this fic :D Sorry didn't get to get this to my beta reader, so excuse any mistakes. Don't forget to vote on the poll, and leave a review telling me on what to improve on! Thanks guys!