I think I'm getting back into my stride, this only took me about two hours to write! If I can keep up this speed I'll have the whole thing done by the end of the week wouldn't that be fantastic?

Feliciano woke suddenly to a loud, angered, scream, the force of shock almost knocking him from his seat. He turned his head to see his brother standing in the doorframe, a shocked look on his face.

He looked quickly over to Ludwig, who was no longer in his chair and now standing behind it, staring wide eyed at Romano, unsure why the strange man was yelling at him, why he seemed so angry.

"Feliciano!" Romano screeched, "Why is this man here, what the fuck have you done?! Why is there a thief in our house?! He should be killed! Why is he here? Fucking tell me why!"

Feliciano got to his feet quickly, his heart beating in his throat, he walked to Romano's side, or as close as he dared get, looking down at his feet as he talked. "Romano, please, he's not a thief, they got the wrong man, I said I'd look after him until they found the real thief, please brother don't get upset, it's only for three days."

Romano glared at Ludwig, "And what does this bastard have to say, he's not even trying to defend himself. He's bad you idiot, I'm telling you, we're not having him stay here, Feliciano."

Feliciano frowned softly, continuing to look down at his feet, "Romano…" he couldn't make Ludwig leave, not only had Kiku entrusted him with Ludwig's safety, put Ludwig under his care, but Ludwig had no where else to go, who was to say where Kiku would send him next? What if the next person abused him? Or even worse what if there was no next person and he was forced to spend the next three days tied to that chair?

"Feliciano!" Romano shouted, stepping closer to him, practically pushing him backwards, "You can't let him stay, what if he's a murderer? Are you going to let a fucking murderer stay in our house?"

Feliciano gasped slightly, flinching at Romano's shouting, "No Romano, I-"

He felt a small jolt as he was pushed back, he looked up from the floor to see Ludwig standing in front of him, holding Romano by his shirt. He gasped, stepping forward quickly to pull hem apart, "Ludwig no! Don't hurt him, No!"

Ludwig flinched slightly, looking taken aback, he stepped away, seeming to understand the word no.

Romano glared at Feliciano, blinking rapidly, "Feliciano," he said as calmly as he could, "Either he leaves or I do, choose, now."

Feliciano shook his head, "I-I can't Romano, I can't send him back there, you didn't see how they were treating him, Th-they had him tied like a dog, I can't send him back."

Romano huffed, frowning hard, "Fine!" he yelled, "Fine, Feliciano, you can stay here and get fucking murdered for all I care, don't say I didn't want you when he cuts your fucking head off and eats you!" He groaned angrily, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder, "I'm going to Antonio's, you can come and get me when this idiot is no longer in my house."

"What?" Feliciano asked softly, taking a step forward as Romano walked back out the door, "No wait, Romano, you can't just go. I-" he jolted as the door slammed in his face.

Tears sprang to his eyes, and he let out a small squeak, lifting a hand to rub his arm in self-comfort, trying to calm himself so the tears wouldn't fall. He hadn't meant to upset him so badly, if he'd just been given a chance to explain he could have fixed everything. Romano was so hot headed, it was so frustrating.

"…Feliciano?" Ludwig asked softly from a few feet away, frowning softly in confusion with almost no idea what had just happened.

Feliciano let out another small squeak at the sound of his name, shuddering gently and give a tiny gasp as he began to cry, hugging himself tightly now as the full realisation of what had just happened hit him.

His brother had never left him before, he'd never been this angry, Feliciano almost couldn't believe it.

But saying that, Feliciano had never challenged him like this, utterly refused to do what he wanted.

Feliciano shook, staring at the door and whimpering softly, he was trying to hold back, he didn't want to cry.

Ludwig walked to his side, "Feliciano," he said again, trying to sound comforting, letting out a short sentence in his native language and reaching out to place his hand on his shoulder, forcing a soft smile.

He grunted slightly in surprise as Feliciano turned to him, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him tight, nuzzling into his chest and crying against his skin. "Romano, m-my brother, he-he's gone, I can't believe he's gone I-I." The smaller man's words turned to whimpers as he clawed at Ludwig's skin, holding himself close.

Ludwig wished he could say something to calm him down, but he could barely say anything the man would understand, and what he did know wouldn't help calm him. So, he chose not to speak, rubbing Feliciano's back, wrapping his arms around him to try and help him feel safe, hoping it would help.

He didn't know what had happened, who the other man was or what he'd said. He wasn't sure if it had been a bad idea to pull him away from Feliciano, but he'd seemed so angry, Ludwig acted through fear more than anything, he hadn't meant to make things worse.

All he knew was that he owed Feliciano his life, and he couldn't let such a kind man be exposed to such threatening behaviour, be shouted at like that. He had to do what he could.

After several minutes Feliciano pulled away, still shaking as he wiped his eyes, swallowing hard as he tried to recompose himself.

Feliciano shook his head softly, looking Ludwig up and down, "…I got tears all over you, I'm sorry." He took an unsure step forward, taking the corner of his shirt and wiping the wet patches on Ludwig's skin.

"We'll have to buy you some clean clothes tomorrow," he said, forcing a smile, "We can go hunting in the morning, and trade for some." He frowned softly, "Do you know how to hunt..?"

He walked to take his bow from the hook by the door, tightening the sting and handing it out to show Ludwig, "Do you know what this is?" he asked, letting the man take it and examine it, the look on his face telling him that he did not know what it was.

He chuckled softly and took it back, "You can come with me anyway, I can teach you to use it. It's a bow, you kill rabbits with it." He took an arrow from his quiver and shot one of the rabbit skins that hung on the wall of the kitchen, "See?"

The man's eyes widened, and he walked over to pull the arrow out, looking at the hole it'd made before inspecting the tip of the arrow, pressing his thumb against it and finding that it wasn't very sharp, he frowned; something like this was almost useless, no wonder Feliciano was so small if he was hunting using only this thing.

Feliciano giggled softly and moved to take the arrow from him, putting it back in his quiver, "Good huh? It's called an arrow," he pointed to the arrows, "Arrow, see?" he smiled and nodded.

"Arrow?" Ludwig repeated, pointing to them and smiling to show his understanding, at this point anything, no matter how small, was significant progress.

Feliciano nodded happily, "Yeah that's right!" he chuckled softly, "You're going to be able to speak with me properly soon if we keep going. You already know," he counted off the words on his fingers, "Feliciano, arrow, and sleep."

Ludwig frowned and looked back over to his bed, "Sleep?" he said softly, nodding gently as he pointed to the bed.

Feliciano chuckled again, "Well that is a bed actually, sleep is what you do in the bed."

Ludwig frowned, slightly confused as he looked between Feliciano and his bed, "Ludwig sleep?" he said slowly, unsure now what Feliciano meant. Was he saying it was late? Did he want them to go to bed?

It was rather late Ludwig guessed, it was getting dark outside at least.

Feliciano shook his head, "No, no, you don't have to sleep," he frowned, "Unless you want to I mean," he looked over at Ludwig's bed, "I-I mean, we were asleep before Romano came in, did you want to go back to sleep, are you still tired?"

"No?" Ludwig said softly, recognising the word from earlier, he huffed and frowned, "Feliciano," he said with a slight growl, becoming more confused; was Feliciano telling him to go to bed or not?

Feliciano held up a hand, starting to worry that the larger man was getting restless, "Ok, ok, don't get mad, we'll go to sleep ok? If you want to go to sleep," he looked over to the window, "It's getting late anyway and we have to get up to go hunting in the morning."

He gave a small nod and walked to pull back the curtain to his own room, smiling slightly as he did, "Hey, and since Romano isn't here you can sleep in his bed if you want, you don't have to sleep in the chair."

Ludwig, not understanding what Feliciano meant, began to walk over to his chair, sitting on it and putting his feet up. Feliciano frowned at him softly, "Oh do you like the chair better..?" he nodded, "Ok, you can sleep there."

Feliciano huffed and pulled the curtain, shaking his head softly as he got undressed and climbed into his bed. The next few days would be interesting if nothing else.

I hope you enjoyed reading, please leave a review.