A couple days passed, and Ludwig, slowly, began to make a small life for himself. He had managed to get a busboy job at a local restaurant. It was painstaking work, and it didn't pay well, but he was making money at long last. School was not getting any better; he now faced as much abuse there as he did at home, but he simply kept his chin up and tried to ignore it as best he could.
"Luddy!" A voice called behind him, and a second later Felicia skipped up to his side, smiling her trademark grin and the bruising faded from her face almost entirely.
"Luddy?" he asked her dubiously, raising one eyebrow at the nickname. Felicia merely giggled at his expression.
"Well 'Ludwig' is kind of an awkward name for someone like me to say. Italian." she explained at Ludwig's puzzled expression. "We have different sounds, and it's just a bit difficult for me to say. You don't mind, do you?" she asked, peering up at him with her lovely honey eyes, framed by wisps of red hair.
"N-Nein, I don't mind." Ludwig stammered, looking away as he felt his cheeks heat up a bit.
"So where are you going?" Felicia asked, continuing to skip along beside him as he left the school.
"Work." Ludwig said.
From across the street, some kids from their school caught sight of them and began yelling at Felicia and calling her names. "Freak." "Ugly." "Slut." Felicia ducked her head, walking faster down the street. Ludwig had half a mind to cross the street and slam them into the concrete, but Felicia grabbed his shirt sleeve, pulling him along, her eyes still downcast. Soon, they left the other students behind.
"Luddy?" Felicia spoke up, her voice an echo of its normal cheerful tone.
"Ja?"
"Do you think I'm pretty?"
Ludwig froze for a second. No, he didn't think she was pretty. He knew that she was goddamn beautiful, too beautiful to be real. And she was so insecure about herself, it saddened him. All of these thoughts crossed his mine in less than a second, and he stopped, putting a large hand under Felicia's chin, making her look up, into his eyes.
"Yes, I think you're very pretty." he said in a low voice, a faint smile turning up the corners of his lips. "And you aren't a mistake."
His jaw shut with an audible click. He hadn't meant to say that, but the words had slipped out against his will. Felicia's eyes were wide.
"You heard that..." she said softly, slight tears welling up in the corners of her beautiful eyes. She pulled away from his hand and ducked her head, wiping at her eyes.
"We really need to sit down and talk." Ludwig said. He pulled out his cellphone, dialed, and held a short conversation. When he hung up, Felicia watched him with her lovely eyes. "I got the day off." he said to her. "Now come with me. We can go get coffee and talk. Is this okay?"
"S-Sì." she said, following him like a baby duck as he led her up the street to a small cafe. They went in and got a seat tucked into the corner of the restaurant, where they would be able to talk freely without anyone overhearing.
"Listen, this a hard thing to ask of you, Felicia, but I need you to answer honestly." Ludwig said, his tone low and imploring. "Are you and your brother being abused at home...?"
Felicia grew pale, clutching her coffee cup tight in her hands, her wide eyes fixed on Ludwig's face. Once the shock wore off, she looked down, trembling oh-so slightly and hunching her shoulders in a gesture that Ludwig knew all too well.
"Yes." she finally whispered. "You can't tell anyone, Ludwig!" she said desperately, looking at him once again. "Please! If we get taken out of this foster home, the social workers will split up my brother and I!"
"What happened to your parents, Felicia?" Ludwig asked, still trying to keep his voice low and soothing.
"My mother is dead, and my father is in prison..." Felicia whispered softly. "He beat her to death. Fratello was so brave. He called the police and took the abuse until the cops showed up. He wouldn't let Father lay a hand on me... Lovi nearly died that night, Luddy... He would rather die than let me be harmed."
Ludwig had a newfound respect of Lovino Vargas. The boy was a smartass and seemed overprotective of his sister, but he was willing to give his life for her, a feat that Ludwig realized that he was starting to understand. He too felt the need to protect the pretty Italian girl before him from anything that could hurt her more than she already had been.
"We bounced around from foster home to foster home for about a year, then found this one. We don't like it too much, but what can we do? There aren't too many foster families willing to take in two teenagers." Felicia said, picking absently at a stray thread on her jacket cuff.
"I understand." Ludwig said, mood darkening slightly as he thought of the abuse that the lovely girl before him had faced.
"What about you, Luddy?" Felicia asked, pulling Ludwig from his thoughts. "I know you live with your grandfather. What happened to your parents?"
"Both dead." Ludwig said, a bit shortly. "Ten days ago, they died in a car accident."
"Oh!" Felicia looked horrified. "Such a short time ago... I'm so sorry, Luddy." she said, reaching out and placing her hand on top of his. Her small hand was warm, the skin soft. Ludwig swallowed hard, forcing down the still fresh grief for his deceased parents. "Why are you in school again so soon?"
"I didn't want to just sit on the couch and wallow in my depression." Ludwig said, eyes downcast. "Besides, it wasn't good for me or Gilbert to lock ourselves away."
"What happened after?" Felicia breathed softly, her earnest eyes on his face.
"Once they died, my brother an I moved in with my grandfather. We hate Opa a great deal, but he is our only living relative and we had no desire to go into foster care." Ludwig said. "We've stayed with him before, when our parents were on business trips. He was always a bit abusive, but he didn't drink then, so it didn't matter. Once he started drinking, we stopped going to see him. But once Mutti and Vati died, we had to go live with him."
"He hits you?" Felicia asked softly.
"Ja." Ludwig said, shrugging. "We are in the same boat, Felicia."
The girl, inexplicably, began to giggle. "My name sounds so bad with your accent! Call me Fels or Feli, please!" she laughed until little tears caught in her lashes and her cheeks were flush. With her pink cheeks and shining eyes, Ludwig felt himself falling in love with her all over again.
Falling in love with her?! Ludwig asked himself, surprised. What that what this was? Was it love? Being with Felicia made his heart race, his legs weak. He felt as though he could tell her everything, and was tempted to. Was this what love felt like? He had never felt this way with anyone else.
"Luddy, are you okay?" Felicia asked, leaning over the table, her eyes concerned. "You got pale all of a sudden. Do you feel okay?" She pressed a warm hand to his forehead, and Ludwig's heart beat faster than ever. "You don't have a fever." she mused.
"IthinkIloveyou!" Ludwig blurted the words out, then clapped a hand over his mouth in horror. Felicia drew back, confusion wrinkling her brow.
"Can you repeat that?" she asked. "I just need to make sure I heard you right. I swear you said that you-"
"You heard me right." Ludwig muttered, looking away and blushing bright red. Felicia's cheeks flushed as well.
"B-But you've only known me for a few days!" she stammered. "B-Besides, why would a boy like you like a girl like me? there are so many other pretty girls!" she protested, before letting out a squeak and burying her face in her hands.
This definitely took the cake for the most awkward thing that had ever happened to him, Ludwig decided as he and Felicia sat in mutual blushing silence, determinedly not looking at the Italian girl, who still had her face in her hands.
After a few long moments, Felicia tentatively lifted her face from her hands, cheeks still painted with her embarrassment. She took a deep of calming breath before finally having the courage to look Ludwig in the eyes.
"Did you mean it?" she asked, looking sort of nervous, hands twisting her skirt in her hands and peering up at Ludwig shyly.
"O-Of course I did!" Ludwig said rather loudly, his blush returning with full force, and he glared at the wall, ready to die of embarrassment.
"I'm no good for you..." Felicia said hesitantly, looking down and hunching her shoulders, her red braids falling forward, that strange wild curl even seeming to droop. She looked very small and defeated.
"I'm no good for you either." Ludwig said, reaching a hand over the table and taking Felicia's, an oddly bold move for the German.
"I think I love you too..." Felicia whispered, squeezing Ludwig's hand gently in her own, a smile beginning to cross her face.