Hai :3

Just thought I'd make a couple things clear before I start writing- for the majority of this fanfic, they are speaking German, although knowing it would be stupid to translate the WHOLE TEXT I just wrote it in English for y'all. I also didn't write accents any differently because we probably all know by now that Feli-chan is Italian. With that aside, enjoy~! (hopefully? If ou did pls review- it means a lot and makes me update a lot quicker, your words keep me going- if you didn't enjoy it tell me what could be improved so I can make it better! :D tysm)

The large, deep chestnut coloured front door slid open slowly. In front of it, lying still, were light patches of flowers scattered randomly across a grassy garden, and behind it was an extravagantly-decorated main room, gold coat pegs and portraits generously scattered across the walls. A solemn face, white paint highlighting sharp features, looked down on a young boy of fifteen (despite looking at least a couple years younger), tying his shoe laces slowly, sat on the bottom stair. His hands shook slightly, and upon realising this he quickly closed his eyes.

"Feliciano?"

A warm voice suddenly brought him out of his fantasy, and he turned his head abruptly to see a familiar face, looking at him kindly. She had bent down just slightly, and her smile was gentle, as it always was around him. She chuckled softly. "You still there?"

He gave the usual cheerful smile in response. However, this time, she could tell it was lacking the usual optimistic glow that came with it, and she could recognise a small hint of nervousness behind his expression, despite his feeble attempts at suppression. He'd never been good at hiding his emotions, she knew that better than anyone.

"...Don't worry about it Feli." She began quietly, sitting next to the young Italian, hands hovered over her lap daintily. "I had to learn a whole new language too, so I know how you feel. I didn't even start learning German until I was eleven. You've had lots of practice here at home, I'm sure you'll do fine."

He nodded, internally panicking, externally smiling awkwardly.

"And so long as you can understand it I'm sure you'll be fine. You understand me, right? It's no different."

"What if they pick on me for my accent?" He asked, surprisingly quickly for his knowledge of German. He seemed frightened, flailing slightly out of panic. However not once had Elizabeta (nor anyone else except for his brother) been around Feliciano when he was truly scared. Yes, he wasn't the bravest- in fact saying he was weak would be a drastic understatement- however... the typical way he seemed to express his fear, or angst, was more in a childish way. It wasn't true fear, it was simply a temporary state. Only once in his whole life had he ever truly experienced it out of that stereotype. And only one person had seen, and only one occasion was so terrible it made him behave so very out of character, so unlike his usual cheery self. Feliciano would never forget how that felt, but since that day, he'd changed. Maybe, he was trying to appear more positive for those who might worry about him...

"They won't!" She reassuringly chuckled, patting his back for a moment. "I don't know why you'd think that; having an accent just means you probably weren't taught that language growing up. Which you weren't."

"Ve, b-but..." He whimpered, his lips pursing into a childish pout as he looked down. There was so much he wanted to say... There was so much he was worried about. So many things he feared, most of which he'd blurted out to his brother yesterday evening on the phone- not that he was much help of course. He just did the usual thing, giving the usual reply of, 'I don't need to waste money on phone calls of you just crying to me about your crap!' and listened slightly half-heartedly. However, even though he always seemed to do this, for Feliciano it was just nice to talk to someone in Italian again. Even if he was only whining about pointless things, holding the phone close to his ear as he cried pathetically into the other end, he still felt it relieving. Besides, if it was that important, Lovino would listen... he wasn't the best person at giving advice, sure, but he listened, and that was more than Feliciano asked for.

"If that's what you're worried about, then sorry, I can't do much to help."

He nodded meekly, eyes averted to the ground.

"...It's alright." She said, standing up. "I'm sure it'll be okay. Just remember what I taught you and you'll be fine, I know it."

He nodded in response, forcing a smile onto his face, also standing up and then weakly picking up his bags, crammed with all that he imagined he would need for three weeks.

"You're in Vati's car. He should be waiting." She told him with a sweet smile. "Good luck, Feli. I'll miss you!" She hugged him swiftly. "See you in three weeks."

"See you soon." He quietly replied with a smile, taking a step out the door and waving, before gently closing it behind him.

A classroom. Mindless chatter filling every corner of the room. One especially loud corner, one especially loud person making most of the noise in the especially large classroom-

"I AM AWESOME!" A stubborn, overly-confident voice yelled, probably loud enough to make tables move and blow into eachother.

"Keep it down, dumbass!" A bespectacled girl shouted back, light brown hair pulled back into two thick braids below her ears. "We're trying to study for the English test!"

"Ja if I fail, I'm blaming you." A shorter, slightly darker-skinned boy agreed.

"Wouldn't want Mr. Kirkland to punish us by making us eat his awful food or something." She sniggered jokingly.

"Aw come on, you know you like it!" The self-proclaimed 'awesome' male evilly laughed, coming closer to whisper in her ear despite her protests.

Behind him, a taller boy sighed deeply, stood in the corner besides another male (with blonde hair also), his arms folded.

"Hey Ludwig," he began quietly, "you get any sleep last night? You seem tired."

"Hm?" The taller male looked up, sleeking his hair back briefly before replying; "I got plenty."

There was a short moment, where neither of the boys said anything.

"Gilbert being an idiot as ever." Basch brought up, a slight sigh in his voice.

Ludwig nodded in agreement. However as he actually turned his head to look, he noticed his friend suddenly using the headlock technique, and opened his mouth to say something- however he was interrupted just before he could.

"Guten morgen," a familiar female voice called nonchalantly, as a tall, brown-haired female strode in, dropping her papers carelessly onto the desk and plopping herself down into the 'chair on wheels' (which everyone but her seemed to know was just called a spinny chair). There was only a slight decrease in the overall class volume, which remained for about three minutes unwavering and unchanging- however, when she suddenly stood up again, as if remembering or realising something, the class turned to look at her expectantly and fell (almost) silent.

"Sorry, I just remembered there's something I think I forgot to tell you all."

Most students sat down at this point, including Ludwig and his friend- he folded an arm across the desk, listening carefully; unlike Gilbert sat next to him, whispering into a girl's ear most likely not about Mr. Kirkland's cooking. Whether he was being perverted or flirtatious was unimportant. And so, ignoring this, Ludwig averted his attention back onto the teacher, and blue eyes watched intently as she explained to the class, "We have a new student joining tomorrow, which you all probably know by now if I'm right..?"

Her question was replied with a few nods, with the exception of Ludwig and a couple others. He was now both contemplating what the new student would be like, and also wondering how he didn't know about it. Surely, with a friend as popular as one of his closest friends Gilbert (the obnoxious idiot thinking he was the most awesome human being on planet earth), he would have known... Were they keeping it from him? Or had they simply forgotten to say? I'll mention it later, he thought to himself.

"Yes, I thought so. However-"

"Is it a girl?" Gilbert questioned mischievously, a hint of excitement in his voice.

"No, I think he's male." She quickly cleared her throat and continued. "However, I don't think I mentioned another detail about him, which I'd like you all to take into consideration, and be extra kind to him because of it. I'm not saying I'd like you all to treat him differently because of this obviously, I'm merely mentioning it." She calmly said, swiftly pushing her glasses up her nose and pausing for a moment. "He wasn't born in Germany, and he doesn't speak German as his first language. He must know at least relatively good German, to be able to get into this school- but if he doesn't understand something or isn't sure what we're meant to be doing then don't be shy, please help him out because he will be finding all this rather difficult."

Ludwig felt surprised when she'd said this, probably not expecting it, due to having little to no experience with people who had to speak another language in their daily lives... He'd never been one of the top students in his English classes, nor in French; just imagining someone else being forced to learn his own language and communicate decently in it seemed impossible.

"Where's he from?" A cheerful female asked at the front of the classroom, short ginger hair surrounding her smile in thin wisps.

"Italy, I believe..?"

A few choruses of 'cool' followed.

"Italien, huh?" Gilbert bent forwards in his chair to whisper to Ludwig. "You know anything about that?"

He shook his head, truthfully.

"Man though, must be hard to learn a whole new language..." He suggested. The fellow German nodded in response, feeling a certain tinge of respect for this new kid already. Perhaps, if he was mature enough to learn a whole other language, he'd be more like Ludwig, and finally he could have a friend who wasn't clingy, wasn't loud, wasn't immature or childish... Perhaps he'd be one of those people? Just maybe.

Staring out the car window, fingers slightly shaking under his chin, Feliciano watched the scenery outside fly past his eyes. Next to him was his father- or technically, adoptive father- Roderich Edelstein. He was always so distant, cold even, and never spoke as softly as Elizabeta did to young Feliciano- however he played the piano beautifully. Feliciano sometimes liked to stand outside the door and listen to his playing, secretly closing his eyes and getting lost in a beautiful world of music. It was so magical... so soothing, no matter what the piece was.

"What did Elizabeta talk to you about before you left the house?" He suddenly asked, yet with the usual harsh grit to his words. It wasn't that he disliked his son, of course not... he just seemed to find some satisfaction from pushing him around. Perhaps, due to being the most 'womanly' of Feli's parents (he was a perfectionist, loved fashion, and even wore a corset for god's sake- not that anyone knew that), he simply wanted to feel more like a man, he wanted to feel in control like he wished he could with Elizabeta.

Feliciano suddenly snapped out of his daze, looking across at his father more alertly in response to his question.

"O-Oh, she... she told me some advice..."

"And so that means general advice, or anything from a specific topic?"

Feliciano fell silent for a moment, a rather dazed expression across his features. He looked down at his shoes in confusion.

"Hmm?"

"Could you please... talk a little slower?" He asked in the usual high-pitched tone, an awkward laugh following. Roderich occasionly did this... He spoke too quickly for his son to understand- quite the opposite to Elizabeta, who always spoke deliberately more slowly around Feliciano, sometimes even using less complicated language to help him understand. This could be one reason they were closer to each other.

"...You're going to a German school. If you can't understand me speaking in this tempo, I don't know what you're going to do there."

"Agh, sorry padre- I mean vati-"

"I hope you studied extra hard last night." He commented. He would be giving him a suspicious look, although seeing as he was currently in control of a moving vehicle he knew this was not a smart idea.

"I-I studied really hard, I promise-"

"It will be your fault if not."

"No but I did I promise! I was up for a long time looking at all of the vocabulary and the... the-"

"Alright, good..." He sighed, somewhat tired. "We're almost there. Make friends, I suppose, work hard... Try to be less useless..."

The young Italian nodded, silently shivering in his seat, running over every German word he knew in his mind.

'I had to learn a whole new language too, so I know how you feel.'

He felt slightly less terrified upon remembering his mother's soothing words. If she'd managed to become close to fluent, then surely that meant he could, also... it just might take a while. He could understand a fair amount, that wasn't the problem, it was just speaking it. Having to talk to people, not knowing whether the words coming out of your mouth were completely right or wrong.

Just five minutes later, as they swiftly pulled into the airport's car park, Roderich turned the radio down a notch, and eventually brought the volume down to zero. Then, he suddenly said something, meaning he must have noticed Feliciano's shaking at last and felt the paternal need to reassure him.

"...Be confident. Maybe it won't be as bad as you think." He suggested, talking just slightly slower, or slowly enough for his son to understand. This in itself was surprising, but so was the fact he was actually being nice to him- what was more shocking Feliciano didn't know.

"...Do you think I will make friends?"

"So long as you don't have too many Italian outbursts, sure... why not."

Feliciano cheered up slightly upon hearing his father comfort him. It was rare that he and his father engaged in long conversation, and even rarer for his father to comfort him... it almost felt strange at first. However, he didn't seem to notice this, and instead a cheerful smile formed on his face as he opened the car door.

"Bye Pa- Vati!" He exclaimed happily, gathering his bags, and nervously stepping out of the car.

The clock ticked silently off the wall. It was almost the end of the first 15 minute interval that the students had in between lessons, as indicated by the minute hand slowly shuffling over towards the top of the clock, having long overtaken the shorter hour hand below. The hand continued to move, closer, closer, until eventually reaching it's goal and a loud bell signalled the end of break, and the start of the next lesson. In this case, it was Art.

However just after this happened, as if on queue, every student turned their head as the door opened. First, there was their usual teacher, Mrs Schmidt- although behind her, Ludwig just about saw, was a less familiar face who he presumed to be the new kid she'd mentioned yesterday. As she strode into the classroom with a smile, he followed her, and there were a few whispers as he entered the room. He was maybe a couple inches shorter than average, and had light brown hair that fell accross his forehead in an almost middle part, a glossy shine to it perhaps indicating he'd tried to look presentable... or, it could just be natural. He didn't look like the sort of person stupid enough to spend hours at a mirror. If he was, perhaps he would have dealt with the unruly curl on the left side of his head better.

Gilbert quickly elbowed his blonde friend and whispered to him, "that the new kid?"

Ludwig didn't reply, his reasons unknown. He instead watched the new kid walk to his seat, a little nervously, then sit himself down in the only chair free in the classroom, as instructed to do by the teacher. This was just one to the left of Ludwig, who was currently going over how he could protect him from Gilbert, knowing he'd automatically attack the poor soul the second they were out of their seats. Not only this, though... he wondered how he could approach him. It would be good to make a new friend, and to his parents this was all they really wanted. Because, most likely due to his often unapproachable personality, Ludwig had not as many friends as he (or more accurately, his parents) would like. He had Gilbert, Basch, and a couple others- but to Ludwig's parents this just wasn't enough apparently, despite him being perfectly happy. However, his thoughts were cut short as he heard a name called- his own, and he quickly replied, "ja."

The teacher worked her way down the register, and Ludwig listened for the new kid's name, curious to hear what he was called. However, it didn't actually come until the end, when she had to add his name to the list.

"Felizian?" She questioned, looking at the young Italian expectantly.

"I-It's Feliciano." He replied, softly spoken and in a perfect Italian accent. He didn't seem shy... not personality-wise. He simply seemed a little scared.

"Oh, I apologise." She quickly brushed off her previous comment.

"Feli...ciano..?" Ludwig whispered quietly to himself, perhaps checking if he was able to pronounce it, or perhaps getting used to it. It's a nice name, he thought, implanting the name into his brain (along with the correct pronunciation).

"Could you write it for me? I might get the spelling wrong." Mrs Schmidt asked, handing him the pen as he walked up and scribbled something down on the sheet of paper.

"Feliciano Vargas- am I pronouncing that right?" She asked him softly. He looked back, slightly confused (possibly indicating he didn't understand), however he answered with a cheerful nod and returned to his seat, being watched as he walked.

The second bell rung, this time indicating the end of registration.

"Right on time," Mrs Schmidt murmured to herself, pushing her glasses up with a slim finger before giving the students her permission to leave. However, as Ludwig swiftly flung his bags around his shoulders and was about to exit the room, deliberately before Gilbert, she quickly interrupted him.

"Oh, Ludwig? You have art next if I'm correct?"

"Yes." He nodded in response.

"Could you help Feliciano find his way there? I would ask Gilbert, but I know you probably won't get lost quite as easily..."

"...Ja. It's fine." He replied, looking back at the young Italian hurrying to pack his bag, and then tucking in his chair swiftly. Ludwig hadn't had long to wait, and so soon enough he was heading out of the classroom, Feliciano tagging by his side. The hallways were emptier than usual today, they lacked the noise usually surrounding it; this caused Gilbert to question why. Perhaps a school trip, an exchange or something...

"Hey Luddy!" A loud voice suddenly cut through his thoughts.

"Wait!"

He let out a deep exhalation and turned his head, bringing himself to a halt to wait for his friend. He took a quick glance at the Italian male beside him, also stood still, smiling meekly for no particular reason.

"Heh... Thanks..." Gilbert said as he wedged himself in between the two boys, slinging his bag over one shoulder.

"...Sorry." Ludwig somewhat uncomfortably apologised, preferably to Feliciano. "This is-"

"ZE AWESOME ME IS GILBERT, AND I WILL INTRODUCE MYSELF DANKE!" He butted in energetically, elbowing Ludwig as if to prove his point.

"Klein scheiße..." Ludwig muttered to himself.

"SO new kid!" He grinned, and wrapped an arm around Feliciano's shoulders. This seemed to alarm him at first. "Tell us something about yourself!"

Ludwig felt a need to interject, however chose to see what happened first (also slightly wanting to hear the new kid talk) instead.

"What are your hobbies? And is it true every Italian ever loves pizza and pasta-"

"Pastaaaaa~!"

"Well there's your answer..." Ludwig silently commented.

"Not everyone... But I do!" He replied cheerfully, an optimistic sort of gleam in his expression.

'He's less nervous than he looks.' Ludwig thought to himself, in slight surprise.

As he approached the art room, he spotted his friend Basch, and sat down in his usual spot beside him (and Gilbert was opposite him, as usual), arms folded over a section the large table. And this time, their table of four was completed when the new kid happily sat himself down in the remaining seat opposite Ludwig.

"Ahem," he quietly cleared his throat, successfully gaining Feliciano's attention, "this is Basch."

Said male gave a small wave across the table, which Feliciano returned cheerfully as usual.

"So you're from Italy?" The Swiss asked, a tinge of curiosity in his voice.

He nodded in response, somewhat proudly. "Ve~"

"What part?"

"I-I don't know the German, but... Venezia?"

"Venezia?"

"Uh, uh, boats! There are lots of boats!" He suggested as a clue, forming what might just be a boat with his hands.

"Boats... you mean Venedig?"

"I think!"

"Hm." He nodded calmly in response. "Cool."

"Are you from Switzerland?" He asked, suddenly noticing the small keychain on the blond's schoolbag.

"Ja." He replied. "But, my parents and my little sister moved here a few years ago."

Feliciano nodded patiently.

Suddenly, someone strode through the doors, and the shock of this caused the young teenager to jump slightly in his seat, reaching for the white flag stored in his pocket however lowering his hand when seeing it was just the teacher. He had dark brown hair, somewhat messily scattered around his forehead, and blue eyes with a subtle hint of green deeper within.

"Homework!" He declared to the class, followed by a few groans from various students. "I'm setting it now, so listen; you are all to do two pages in your scrap books, on any self-portrait of your choice, and for this lesson you will be drawing the person opposite you," he explained quickly to the class, "am I clear?"

The students around him began to unpack their homework diaries, and so Feliciano copied and fetched his own from his bag. However he didn't scribble anything down, having had trouble understanding the teacher's fast-paced talking, and instead stared blankly at the page in his book.

Looking opposite the table, presuamably noticing this, Ludwig suddenly raised his hand.

"Yes Ludwig?" The teacher answered, sitting down at his table.

"Could you please write down the homework on the board?" He asked, eyes still averted to the teacher, noticing out of the corner of his eye Feliciano's mildly surprised response.

"Ja, that is fine."

The German gave a brief smile across the table, which Feliciano returned and leaned in to quietly whisper, "thank you."

"No problem."

"Hey Luddy, you need paper?" Gilbert asked, standing up and walking around the table into the 'hallway' of the room- roughly the center.

"I have plenty, danke."

Once finished writing down the homework, Feliciano also exited the table, to retrieve a pencil.

"Portraits... What would be best?" He wondered silently to himself, "2B? No, maybe 4B."

Eventually going with his last idea, he outstretched his hand and swiftly picked up a 4B, and then an HB from the pot next to it.

"Sorry, excuse me?" A voice suddenly said (relatively) softly to him, as he quickly turned around to see the teacher looking at him for a moment. "Are you a new student?"

"Yes." Feliciano nodded briefly.

"Sorry- I didn't recognise you is all. Welcome."

He nodded politely, grabbing an eraser from a little blue pot next to another pot containing a decent array of brushes.

"...You're not from around here?" The older male asked, hand gently rested on the mousepad at his table and eyes averted to the screen as he calmly logged in.

Feliciano shook his head in response.

"Ah, I see. Italien?"

"O-Oh, yes." He replied, smiling meekly.

Once having gathered the appropriate supplies, he returned to sit at the table, gripping a pencil in his right hand and beginning a rough sketch of the male opposite him with a soft oval. He then drew a less faint line down the middle of the oval, reaching a little further than the rounded shape's end. From there, he continued to form his base, and once transitioning onto personal facial features, switched his pencil.

"He's really focused." Basch silently commented, pausing on his own sketch and glancing over at Feliciano's. It was beginning to look more like Ludwig, he noticed- strangely so- and over the art lesson, it began to resemble him even more closely until (eventually) looking almost identical. And yet, still with a beautiful sort of artistic twist within it, a personal twist that made the boy's work his own.

Gilbert at that moment looked over, a wide grin forming on his face as he saw Feliciano's artwork beside him. "Hey, wow!"

"Hm?" The small male looked up, having been suddenly pulled out of his daze.

"Can I see?" Basch asked politely from across the table.

"Aha, okay, but it isn't finished yet!" He replied with a soft giggle, swiftly handing the blond his artwork.

He looked stunned for a few seconds, before then meekly smiling across at Feliciano and saying quietly; "you're really good."

The shorter male smiled cheerfully in response. "Thank you."

"Luddy! Look at this!" Gilbert exclaimed to his friend, quickly taking the picture and practically shoving the paper in his face.

Quickly grimacing across at his friend, Ludwig scowled. However the negative expression tuned out when he held the paper out in front of him, and took a long look at it before (slightly uncomfortably) giving Feliciano the credit he deserved.

"This is really good." He calmly handed back the paper.

Feliciano smiled warmly back at him, in that certain innocent way he seemed to have, honey-brown eyes shining when he opened them. He liked being praised... Maybe because it was one of the ways which made him feel like all those hours in his room alone spent leaning over a canvas, weren't just for his own enjoyment. They were for other people to enjoy. And if he could make other people happy, it didn't matter how little German he knew, he was happy.

"Looks just like you, nein?" The albino next to him commented with a grin.

Ludwig nodded in agreement, looking at his own work in slight annoyance.

"Wait, I can draw something that looks even more like you-" he began, flipping his own paper over and scribbling something down on the back of it hastily. He then presented the paper, showing a round speckled potato. "I can't even tell the difference!" He jeered.

Feliciano laughed softly, while Ludwig gritted his teeth and gripped his pencil slightly tighter. "I do not look like that!"

Gilbert burst out into laughter, and happiness somehow radiated from the table at which they sat, just for a moment.

Feliciano smiled to himself.