Summary: For street urchin Feliciano Vargas, it seems Christmas for him will be the same as usual. By some stroke of fate, Feliciano stumbles upon a kind stranger, Ludwig Beilschmidt, who delivers a miracle to the Italian's life- and strange feelings he's never felt before...
Pairing: Ludwig x Feliciano (Germany x N. Italy, AU)
"Feliciano. Do you want me to leave you alone?" Ludwig asked, confused.
After Gilbert cleaned up the dishes and went upstairs to clean himself up, he motioned to hint Ludwig to let himself in to comfort Feliciano. Ludwig shook his head, waiting for Feliciano to respond.
Feliciano's crying softened a little bit once he heard Ludwig's voice. It was very comforting to him, which was why he liked hearing it.
He managed to let out a few words, which could barely be heard through the closed door. "Y-you can c-come in..." he said quietly, nearly whispering.
"Okay," Ludwig said before entering. He closed the door behind them to keep his brother at bay and stood at the entrance of the room. "Did I do something to upset you, Feliciano?"
"Vee... you didn't do anything wrong. It's just..." Feliciano paused, too afraid to admit the truth. But admitting the truth got him closer to Ludwig yesterday, so he thought it might not hurt to try.
"...I-I'm still in love with you. And it's starting to take over my mind... every second of the day, I find myself thinking about you. I try to push out the thoughts, but it never works, not anymore..." he admitted shamefully. "...but these thoughts mean nothing, because I know you don't share the same feelings as I do. And I feel a bit regretful for what happened last night, because I missed out on a chance to get closer to you because of my clumsiness..." he confessed, hiding his head under the covers again. "Y-you can leave me now. I-I'm okay being alone..." he lied, just to try and make Ludwig feel better. "...you don't have to worry anymore because you don't have some strange street urchin following you around, madly in love with you."
Ludwig may be a bit oblivious when it came to love, but he could tell when Feliciano lied.
"He may not be following me around anymore, but he is now living under my roof," he said as he pulled the covers back from Feliciano. "So I indeed do have a right to worry," he smiled a bit and lifted Feliciano's head as he wiped the tears away gently.
Feliciano was a bit glad Ludwig didn't believe the lie. And the closeness was even more assuring. He just had to keep telling himself to not screw up this opportunity. Maybe even get a truthful confession out of Ludwig.
"B-but doesn't it bother you at all that I'm in love with you? And thinking about you almost every second of the day?" he asked Ludwig nervously.
"Nein, it does not," Ludwig said, a bit bluntly. "But why do you have such a hard time just trying to talk to me?"
Gilbert was leaning against the wall in his bedroom trying to hear what they were saying. Oh... Westen, why are you so blind... he thought as he held his face in his hand. Just admit it already!
Feliciano turned his head away sadly. "It's because every moment I'm with you... all I ever think about is loving you. And those thoughts hurt me because I know you don't love me back," he explained. "Imagine, discovering what love feels like for the first time... and then finding it's forbidden." Feliciano wondered why he was admitting all of this, but decided to continue revealing his true feelings. After all, lying would only hurt him more than he already was.
Ludwig tried to wrap his brain around the thought, but was having a hard time figuring it out. He didn't have many relationships as he was growing up since he always worked hard.
He eventually was able to guess and lowered his head with a sigh.
"If it is this hard for you to cope with, then why don't you just let me get to know more about yourself?" he asked.
"I admitted to you last night I already thought you were cute..." he said softly, lowering his head a bit to hide a blush, "so why don't you try harder to see if I will like you more?"
"Y-you know what..." Feliciano began, "...it's not worth it. If you really don't love me back... then we'll just leave it at that, okay?" he said, smiling a fake smile, which was meant to comfort the other. "I'll leave you alone. I won't bother you about this anymore..."
Ludwig looked at Feliciano and nodded, "If that is what you wish to do."
He then got up and started walking to his room to change, but stopped a moment to tell Feliciano, "I have to run into work real quick to finish up some paperwork, if you need anything talk to mein bruder, Gilbert, and when I get back we can go somewhere if you wish."
"Oh! Ludwig! Can we go caroling~?" Feliciano asked energetically, gently tugging Ludwig's arm. "But this time, I'll be dressed in really nice clothes so nobody will ignore me~!"
Ludwig smiled a bit and nodded. "Sure. You can look through the dressers in here to see if anything will fit."
He pulled his arm away and got ready to go into work.
After Ludwig left, Gilbert came out of his room shaking his head. "Ahh, bruder, why are you so blind to your own feelings?"
Feliciano checked the many dresser drawers, admiring all the various pieces of clothing. He took out a plain red sweater, a pair of black pants, and a pair of boxers. He also grabbed a belt from another drawer, just in case. Feliciano quickly grabbed the clothes and ran into the bathroom to change, finding the clothes fit him nicely. He didn't even need to use the belt, which was a surprise.
He ran out of the bathroom, shouting happily. "Gilbert~! Look at my new fancy clothes~!"
Gilbert looked at Feliciano and chuckled, seeing the Italian in a mix of his and Ludwig's old clothes.
"They look good on you, Feliciano. I wonder if we have a spare coat for you to use later on when we go out.." he walked down stairs and rummaged in a wardrobe.
"Aha!" he stated as he pulled out a dark blue frock coat. "Here we go. I think this might fit you."
Feliciano tried on the coat. The sleeves were a bit too long, but otherwise, the coat fit him well. He smiled at how nice he looked, and that he never had to wear his ragged, patched-up coat anymore. "Veeeee~! I love my new clothes~!" Feliciano said happily, twirling around in his coat.
"Gute," Gilbert smiled.
"Now, why don't we try to fix up your hair for your date," he winked.
"D-date...?" Feliciano opened his eyes wide in surprise, not expecting Gilbert to mention something like that. Until, his motive to get closer to Ludwig was renewed. "O-oh! Right! Got it!" Feliciano added cheerfully.
"He may not see it as one, nor his relationship with you as much, but he doesn't normally associate himself with people in your social status. No offense intended," he said, "So you must have caught his eye."
He then grinned and stated, "I'll make sure the awesome me will help you two get things rolling!"
Feliciano was glad Gilbert was going to help the relationship. The Italian was wondering exactly where to go caroling, but he finally decided on Florence since he was most familiar with it.
Just after Gilbert finished speaking, Ludwig returned to the house, a light dusting of snow covering his clothes.
"Oi, Osten, what are you yelling about now?"
"Oh, nothing, Westen," he grinned. "I'm going to get ready now."
Gilbert then ran upstairs to "get ready" but really just wanted to let the two get some personal time.
Ludwig sighed from his brother's actions.
"So, Feliciano, I see you were able to find some clothes. That's good," he smiled a bit, "I was worried none would fit."
He walked over to a table to set his papers down that he had to grab before asking, "Have you decided where to go caroling?"
"Firenze~," Feliciano stated. "Because I know I won't get lost there."
"Florence.. Alright," Ludwig responded just as Gilbert ran downstairs.
"We're all ready, ja? Then let's go!" he said, a bit too excitedly, as he pushed Ludwig and Feliciano towards the door. "Wahahaha~!" Feliciano laughed cheerfully, holding onto Ludwig's hand as Gilbert pushed him.
Ludwig blushed a little and walked out of the door. He pulled away so he could get in the car. "Alright, let's go."
"Yaaaay!" Feliciano cheered, quickly hopping in the car and sitting next to Ludwig in the passenger seat. "Come on Gilbert, you come too~" Feliciano urged. He then turned to Ludwig to ask a question.
"Can we go to one of those really fancy restaurants, you know, where all the happy couples go?"
Gilbert climbed in the back, and muffled a chuckle.
Ludwig looked back as he backed out. "If we can find one that is not filled, sure," he replied.
"I'm sure we'll find one, ve~! After all, it's Christmas Eve. Everyone's at home~" Feliciano stated, gently turning his head towards Ludwig to stare at him dreamily and affectionately. Tonight's my last chance... Feliciano thought, ...if I am to find love by Christmas...
Author's Notes: Mi dispiace for the late update! I promise you, we're almost done, so updates will be much faster!