Charice couldn't help but skip toward the meeting hall today. The only thing that was on her mind right now was meeting her adorable Feli-chan today. People had wondered if she had issues for fangirling over something so adorable that it has to be female, but she didn't mind. Lovino already had all the love coming on him through Spain, of course, so who cares?
The meeting started out quite normally. She was sitting at her spot of the table, Rizal to her left and Feliciano to the right, and the two of them quickly started talking to each other. She couldn't really hear half the stuff, because the arguments have kicked in early and she couldn't hear a damn thing that anyone was saying. Feliciano, for some reason, caught onto that.
"Maaan…I just want a conversation with Feli-chaaan…"
"Oh…is there a young woman in need of help?"
"Eh?"
She turned her head and saw Francis laughing and leaning toward her with a strange smile on his face…a smile that was quite frankly, quite scary. Rizal was too busy with something else, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. As the blond Frenchman reached over and lightly grazed her butt, she grabbed his arm and instantly threw him out the window. Charice grinned and dusted off her hands; he deserved that.
"Woooow…that is some arm strength!"
She turned her head and saw Anri lean next to her while looking at the gigantic France-shaped hole in the window.
"Please! You haven't seen how much I can throw out there!" She bragged. "After being around the Bad Friends Trio for god knows how long, you learn how to defend yourself~!"
"That's nice to hear." Anri stood up. "Then again, I'm not really worried about them."
"That's because they don't pay attention to you." Charice waved her hand. "It must be awesome to be around all these perverts and leave with their sanity intact."
"Yeah, I guess it's awesome to be left alone in a world of nutjobs."
At least she understood why that worked. Anri nodded in understanding as Charice dusted off her hands yet again and saw Feliciano staring at the window in fear. She chuckled and rubbed the back of her head; he was rather adorable when he was scared. So womanly that it's shocking that he was a man in the first place.
"Aww, you know I'm not going to do that to you, Feli-chan."
"…ve…"
"Unless you try to molest me."
"V-ve…"
"You know…in case you have some sort of alternate personality and whatnot."
"Eh? What makes you think I have something like that?"
Because it's always the cute ones that have those things. "Because of…Ludwig."
"Oh…you mean Nazi Germany?"
"Yeah, that guy. Seems to come out only during musical numbers for some reason." She waved her hand. "But seriously, if that becomes too much on the tongue, kuya calls him Axel."
"Eh? Why?"
"Because he's a tool."
"Um…"
"You shouldn't get it. Please stay as you are, as the most innocent thing in the world."
"Ve?"
"Aaaaannnyway." She chuckled. What is up with her and the naïve ones? "You planning on touring through the city after we're done?"
"I want to go around, yes." Feliciano answered. "I've never really explored this part of New York City before."
"No? After how many years of modern NYC?"
"I-I mean…I never went to Times Square…"
"SERIOUSLY? Broadway Shows for life!" She chuckled. "We should go watch one!"
"Ve~! And we should bring Ludwig along!"
"…uhhh…"
"…y-you're still scared of him, aren't you…"
"No…it's just…I have no idea what to expect of Ludwig around musicals…"
"I'm sure he loves them!"
Yet another stereotype of the German being as gay as Christmas.
"All right!" She said. "Lasso him up!"
/=+=/
How they were able to get a guy twice their size out of the room was way beyond what she could comprehend. But nonetheless they did so, and even went so far as to drag him to Times Square without a peep of resistance (if you didn't count the many times he vocally went against the plan). Still, when they got there, Charice had to be confused.
"Eh?"
"W-what is it?"
"…this isn't Times Square. We're a block away…"
"You didn't know that already?" Ludwig blinked, finally giving n. "Times Square is only for walking. They banned cars there a long time ago."
"…oh. Well then! ONWARD!"
"Yaaaay!"
They started skipping ahead before they realized that they were hungry and they wanted lunch. Fortunately, Ludwig had American dollars and there was a Simply Pasta right next to them, so the two of them dragged him inside. Feliciano was near ecstatic once he realized what the entire menu was, and Ludwig looked at his wallet once more, almost as if he was bidding it farewell or something. But since this entire place was about pasta…
"Table for three please!"
"Awww….aren't you adorable~?" The waitress chirped. "We just have one open for you~"
"Ve~~~thank you~"
Charice couldn't help but laugh when Feliciano blew a kiss, spreading the joy at the waitresses and causing a fight on who was going to serve them. It took one waiter to bring them to their table, and from the look on his face he looked like he saved them from a whole bunch of hell.
"Name's Yuri, and I'm going to be your waiter…your only waiter…" He was glaring at the female waitresses behind him. "You guys want something to drink?"
"Just water." Ludwig answered.
"Iced tea. Make sure it's sweetened~" Charice chirped.
"That's all we have." The waiter answered, a little surprised.
"Good enough~"
"Ve~~~do you have water?"
"Of course they have water; I just ordered one." Ludwig blinked.
"All right…two waters and an iced tea, right?"
"Yep."
"Well…those will be out in a second." He looked at the waitresses behind him. "I'll give you some time to o-"
"Wait wait wait wait wait I want this one I want this one!"
"Whoa, don't go abusing the system we have here." Yuri looked at Feliciano. "What do you want?"
"This one, this one this one!"
"All right…" He turned to the other two. "You two want to look?"
"I have one, I have one!" Charice waved. "That one!"
"All right, I have that marked down." Yuri turned to Ludwig. "How old are they?"
"Don't ask…I might as well. I'll have this one then, lunch size."
"OK, so that's the shrimp linguini, dinner size…chicken parmesan with extra cheese and the vodka noodles." He looked up. "With that kind of service…they should be out any minute."
The waiter walked away, and the three of them started buzzing with conversation. The only thing on Feliciano's and Charice's tongues were about the inevitable downfall of America (a topic which made Ludwig cringe just a little bit) and about the cute store filled with dolls a few blocks away. Ludwig didn't know what the heck to say when the dishes and drinks finally came out. Feliciano chirped in happiness as Charice watched him dig in, making her chirp and eat as well. Feliciano had to be so cute.
"Slow down." Ludwig blinked. "Before you get a stomach ache."
"Can't…do…that…food…too…goooooood…"
"V-ve…I ate too fast…" Feliciano stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom…"
"That's what you get…"
Feliciano whined and headed out to the bathroom, leaving the both of them alone. Charice turned her head toward the stoic Ludwig, who was now eating his lunch in peace and not trying to make eye contact. For some reason, she didn't feel her German phobia come up from within her. Maybe it was because of all the New Yorkers around her? That could be it.
"It must be fun, huh?"
"Eh?" He looked up.
"Having to take care of Feli-chan all the time."
"I'm not 'taking care' of him…we're friends. He just likes hanging out with me." He answered with a sigh. "Friends hang out when they want to."
"…why are you saying that like you don't have a clue?"
"Eh?"
"Well, if what Feli-chan's telling me is correct, apparently you're a fan of self-help books."
"Gah! W-what?" His face was completely red. "F-Feliciano told you that?"
"That, and the fact that when me and my brother visited you one day you left out a sex help book." She turned to him. "You do realize that a hetero relationship is different than that with a guy, right?"
"C-Charice! Not so loud…"
"I'm just saying…I'm just wondering why the heck you're going into hetero books to find relationship advice."
"…Charice, do you know anything about me at all?"
"You hang out with Italians, you like going to Italy, your face tends to turn really red really quickly, and according to my friends, we like shipping you a lot."
"Charice, that's not even close." He sighed. "I'm…I'm straight."
"…what."
"Yes." Ludwig sighed. "I'm straight. Just like the majority of the men in this room."
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"Whoa. I never thought I'd see a girl try to drown herself in a cup of water."
"Dammit waiter, if you're just going to stand there HELP ME!"
/=+=/
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…I'm telling the truth, you know."
"…I know…you don't lie too often, but…wow."
"Is it that hard for you to realize, Charice?"
"Yes. I mean, granted you might as well understand the situation I'm in. I'm surrounded by gay guys all the time; never met a straight nation that wasn't a woman in my life."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. Alfred's totally gay for Arthur. Or was it the other way around? Can't really put my finger on it…"
"You should have some understanding; your brother's bisexual, isn't he?"
"Yeah, but he's totally gay for you."
*speaw*
"I mean, his subtleness makes your actions look like a ninja; he's not even trying to hide them!" She laughed. "You can't hide anything from the older sister~"
"…and you…never brought it up?"
"No. Relationships aren't really my good point."
"No?" He cleared his throat. "You seem to have a lot of fun shipping a lot of us together."
"Ludwig, have you seen a typical fangirl?"
"Huh?"
"Fangirls can ship whatever and whoever they want. The human mind can take so much detail and change at least one of them to their benefit. In that sense, fangirls can make any relationship they want possible." Charice grinned. "But just because it's 'possible' doesn't mean it's any more real than a real relationship."
"Charice…"
"I've never been in love before. I'm never going to find out what that's going to feel like. As a result, yeah I'm going to ship whoever I want, but it doesn't mean that I can't support it. Fictional writing isn't a ticket to believable writing, no matter what Stephanie Meyer tries to do to the world. My writing just won't be believable, and I want it to be."
"…you're…"
"I've been people watching for so many years, and I know a love-struck glance when I see one. You don't know it, but you have one plastered all over your face." She smiled; it wasn't her usual smile, which troubled him. "Thinking about Feliciano?"
"N-no! Of course not!"
"Please, don't lie to me. I know when people are lying. You're in love, aren't you?"
Ludwig was shocked at what Charice was claiming. Suddenly, a phone started ringing in the quiet table. She quickly picked up the phone and started talking, her language slowly slipping into Tagalog before a quiet sigh and hanging up the phone.
"That's my brother; he needs me to negotiate a deal with Denmark again." She stood up. "Here's my side of the meal."
Ludwig stared at her as she dug out a twenty, threw it on the table and dashed out the door. A few minutes of silence echoed out before he heard footsteps behind him, and he turned his head to see a confused Feliciano looking at the table in front of him.
"Did Charice leave?"
"She had a business deal to go to."
"Oh…" Feliciano sat at the table. "I'm sorry. I just wanted the two of you to have some alone time…"
"No, it's all right." He looked at the door she had left. "It's all right…"
/=+=/
Guess who's in love with Charice? Don't know? Don't worry! He gets the final chapter!