Every year the two Beilschmidt brothers got a week off to celebrate Christmas together. As they entered this week now, Gilbert decided to take some time playing the piano. A good Austrian friend of his from a while ago had taught him all he knew, although they were on bad terms now. After another friend of his, French this time, had introduced Debussy to him he hadn't stopped playing Debussy's concertos. He and this French friend, and a third friend, had actually toured Europe once upon a time. Gilbert would play the piano, the Frenchman on strings, while the third would sing. They would often go out and get drunk after a concert. That seemed like a lifetime ago now. To think one of his greatest friends would become an enemy.

As the notes effortlessly wafted throughout the house, Ludwig decided to check up on Feliciano. Why? He didn't know. He just had a terrible feeling whenever they were apart that something might happen to the little weak Italian. When he got to the top of the stairs at first he thought something terrible had happened. Feliciano was sprawled out on the floor next to the door. He peered up at Ludwig.

"Look I made it further today." He was incredibly excited about this and was trying to prop himself up on the door. Ludwig found it astonishing how Feliciano was able to focus on the triumph more than the downfall. If Ludwig were in this situation he would centre around the fact that he had fallen and start to think of ways to improve.

"Didn't I tell you specifically not to try walking when you're on your own?" Ludwig crouched down and helped Feliciano into a sitting position.

Feliciano rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, but I want to try and get downstairs by Christmas."

"That's six days away, what's the hurry?"

Feliciano made a noise of thought, which was a continuous 'eh', only used by Italians Ludwig had deciphered since he had only heard Feliciano and Lovino make this noise during a thought process. The Italian's eyes were drawn to Gilbert's room in the attic. "I wanted to have Christmas lunch with you all."

Ludwig raised an eyebrow and followed Feliciano's gaze. "Oh really?"

"Where are you going?" Feliciano followed Ludwig's face as he stood up.

"To check on something." Ludwig started to move towards the staircase up to the attic. He didn't get very far as Feliciano hugged his legs.

"Aren't you gonna help me back into bed?"Feliciano looked pleadingly up Ludwig. After a long and hard death stare, Ludwig quickly picked up Feliciano bridal style and carried him over to the bed. The way Ludwig was acting, it seemed like he was going to throw Feliciano back into bed, but instead he gently lowered him onto the sheets. He then continued on his journey to Gilbert's room.

"Wait!" Feliciano looked around for inspiration; his eyes landed on the drawer where stethoscope resided. "Uh, why don't you check my vitals?" He clasped his chest dramatically. "I think I broke a rib falling down!"

Ludwig sighed and sat down next to Feliciano. "If you had broken a rib you'd be in a lot more pain than that. Where does it hurt?"

Feliciano patted the centre of his chest twice. "Um, here." He said doubtfully.

Ludwig chuckled. He took Feliciano's hand and guided it to the left side of his ribcage. "If you had broken a rib it would've hurt here." He positioned his own hand on the right side. "Or here."

"Oh." Feliciano whispered, his eyes only on Ludwig. The two hadn't noticed how close they had gotten to each other in the past couple minutes. It was just like the time when the stethoscope supposedly didn't work, except they were a lot closer this time; their noses were practically touching. The two of them stayed like that for a moment, listening to Debussy float up the stairs. They were more or less breathing into each other, so Feliciano decided to close the gap. They closed their eyes; their lips met; they lingered for a moment; they both pulled away at the same time; they sat staring at each other. Ludwig removed his hands and peeled away his eyes to meet the floorboards. "I," He stood up, avoiding Feliciano's face. "I'm sorry."

"Wait," Feliciano reached out to Ludwig but he had already left the room. Debussy continued to be played mesmerisingly by Gilbert.

The next day, Ludwig acted as if nothing had happened. In fact, without Ludwig's help, Feliciano wouldn't have made it out into the hallway. Over the next few days, little by little, Feliciano made it to the top of the stairs. He was very proud of this fact and let the whole house know by shouting it at anyone who walked by. Now, on Christmas Eve, as Ludwig came up the stairs he expected the usual from Feliciano. "Luddy, I made it to the top of the stairs." Or, "Hey, I think we should try going down the stairs today." He got none of that today though. In fact, Feliciano was completely absent from his usual spot on the bed. Ludwig poked his head into the room in case Feliciano was hiding behind the door or something similar. Confused, Ludwig spun around in search of the Italian, and eventually found the silhouette of the one he was looking for staring out the window at the other end of the corridor.

"Feliciano!" Feliciano jumped and peered cautiously round to face Ludwig. Ludwig started marching towards him. "I thought I told you to not try and walk when we're not around."

"I wanted a change of scenery!" Feliciano quickly blurted out. Ludwig tried to grab Feliciano when he got to him, presumably to lift him up and put him back to bed, but Feliciano managed to avoid this by ducking under Ludwig's arm. With no where else to go, Feliciano decided to hop down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs there were three doors; one opposite the staircase leading outside, one on the left going to the kitchen and dining room, and one on the right headed into the living room. Feliciano headed straight for Gilbert and Lovino, who were sat on the sofa in the living room.

"Gilbert," He said breathlessly, slumping onto the sofa opposite. "I made it downstairs."

Gilbert looked up from his newspaper. "Well done, Feliciano."

"You know that means." Lovino took a sip of his coffee.

Gilbert focussed his attention back on the newspaper. "Let me just read the end of this article."

Lovino snatched the paper from his hands. "Just fucking do it already."

Gilbert stood up uncertainly. "Alright." He sighed and left the room. Feliciano moved to follow him but ended up falling back into the sofa. He also wanted to meet this mystery person Gilbert kept in his room, but his legs wouldn't obey. He had done way too much excerise today, and had soon fallen asleep on the sofa. Later on, Ludwig had to carry Feliciano back to bed. Feliciano was still asleep, but opened his eyes for a brief moment and kept them on Ludwig. Ludwig was concentrating on the steps he was taking.

"I like you, Ludwig." He said sleepily.

Ludwig looked surprisedly at Feliciano for a second, then back at the floor. "Really?" Feliciano made a noise of agreement, then his breathing pattern changed. After a moment, Ludwig looked back at Feliciano. It had seemed he had fallen asleep.

"I like you too, Feli." Ludwig kept his eyes on the ground and whispered under his breath. Feliciano smiled to himself.

To be continued...