Ciao, peoples! As if you don't already know, I do not own Hetalia.

~This chapter written by B.

Ludwig watched Feliciano hurry out of the room. He just stood there, speechless. Why had the little Italian gotten so worked up? He had said something about his irritating brother wanting to speak to him. Could something have happened between the two, causing him to be even more emotional than usual? The professor just shrugged and returned to the back room to finish his paperwork.

He sat down at his desk and closed the door trying to forget about everything else and focus on marking the papers. He was glad he was given the status of a professor; a student position would be far too simple for him. Magic Around the World was a class that consisted of very little use of magic, too. Plus the topic was simply fascinating.

If only his students thought the same.

Ludwig sighed and attempted to turn his attention back to marking. For the life of him, he just couldn't concentrate. What had gotten into him? Then he realized it was what happened earlier with Feliciano that bothered him. The German nation laid his head down on the desk and thought back to what was said. Did he say anything in particular that had hurt him? No, that's not it. I say things like that all the time, he thought. Ludwig just didn't understand what was wrong. He gave up on the papers for the night and decided to relax for a bit. It was time he ate dinner anyway.

"Ohonhonhon, there seems to be something bothering you, Professor Beilschmidt. Care to enlighten me?"

Mein Gott, thought Ludwig. He really didn't want to deal with Francis' antics at the moment. They sat in their usual seats in the Great Hall. Of course, being another nation, he was generally stuck in the seat beside Professor Bonnefoy.

"Nein, thank you. I'm fine." He had sounded more hostile than he desired.

Francis raised a sceptical eyebrow at him. "Ah, but that is the voice of a troubled heart. Guilt-ridden, even." How the hell can he tell all that from those few words?! The Frenchman was always getting into other peoples' business. Ludwig gave him a glare and returned to his food, choosing to ignore him. To his annoyance, the blonde continued. "Hm, even if it wasn't your fault, you should apologize. Was it perhaps something along the lines of… l'amour? Because if it is, surely you can talk to me about-"

"No," the German replied too quickly. "I'm just tired. Ja, in fact I believe I will return to my quarters for the night, if you'd be so kind as to excuse me." He gave a nod to the others and left the table. They stared at him in confusion. Ludwig almost never left the dinner table early, except for the odd occasion when he was sick. After a few moments, they returned to their idle chatter and left him alone.

He walked back to his quarters in silence in his usual militant manner, his steps faltering only once. He made the mistake of quickly surveying the crowd of students as he walked by and accidentally caught the attention of Feliciano Vargas. Ludwig looked away and continued down the hall, not able to forget the pathetic and heartbroken look that seemed to have been plastered on the boy's face.

As he stormed down the corridor, he thought to himself, Well, perhaps he could be right. I may have been a bit… harsh. I suppose I let myself get carried away with my feelings of the past. The poor boy was just being himself, his usual, oblivious, absentminded self. I should talk to him. He pivoted and began back towards the Great Hall so he could talk to Feliciano immediately.

Then, he had to stop himself. He was a teacher. How odd would it be to pull a student aside during dinner to speak to him in private? He knew he couldn't risk the looks of suspicion, the looks of confusion, and the looks of disapproval. With a sigh he slowly dragged himself back into the direction of his room, walking with much less purpose and drive as before.

When he reached his room, he threw the door closed and flopped down onto his bed. The weight of his thoughts had been bearing him down for a good part of the day and all he wanted to do was sleep. Apologizing to Feliciano would have to wait until tomorrow.

Magic Around the World class could not come quick enough. Not just any of his classes would do, no; he was waiting to teach Feliciano's class. The small Italian only needed to mess up once and he could ask to speak to him after class. Surely that would happen at some point. Ludwig kept a trained eye on him, just waiting for the moment when he would speak out of turn.

And that moment never came.

The Italian did nothing but give Ludwig shy, slightly scared looks for the duration of the class. The professor even directed the lesson so that he asked questions he knew Feliciano knew the answers to. Gott, he even mentioned pasta. But to his misfortune, the Italian did not speak out of turn once.

In fact, he didn't speak much at all that day, which continued to worry Ludwig. Finally, the professor just got tired of waiting. "Mr. Vargas, may I ask you to stay after class?" he asked in his usual commanding tone as the rest of class packed up their things.

The boy looked up at him with wide eyes, and then turned away. "I… Well, I think I might have something I need to do so…" he trailed off, avoiding any more eye contact.

"No excuses!"

Feliciano let out a squeak, and then nodded slowly. The remaining students exited the room, leaving the two alone.

When Ludwig was sure no one else was around, he approached the trembling student. "Feliciano…"

Before he could continue, Feliciano spoke up in a tiny voice. "I… I'm sorry, Professor Beilschmidt. I tried really hard today… What did I do wrong?" He looked up again with those bright amber eyes. The innocence and childish sparkle that normally ruled them were shaded with hurt and disappointment. It broke Ludwig's heart to see such an expression.

"Feliciano, I wanted to say," he paused for a moment. Apologizing was not his forte. "I wanted to say I'm sorry. I was quite harsh yesterday." He closed his eyes and asked, "Would you be so kind as to forgive me?"

There was a moment of silence in which Feliciano started to smile. He smiled wider until he burst out, "Of course I will! I… I understand. I'm sure you get tired of me messing up everything all the time...but I'll try really hard to get better, I promise!"

Ludwig smiled warmly. He felt a bit of relief that Feliciano forgave him. He shouldn't have been surprised; Feliciano was always so kind and understanding. Ludwig found that although the little Italian could make his life difficult, he always made it a bit brighter.

Maybe he could do something right after all.

A/N: Hello, I'm back again! I am sososo sorry that this took so long! But, alas, I am lazyyy. Regardless of the nagging from my fellow authors, I had trouble getting through this. I apologize if this storyline is moving too slowly, but with their relationship and Ludwig's personality, that's just the way it's working out. In other news, the chapters are now into double digits! Thanks for sticking with us, soooo here: Imagine all your favourite characters giving you cookies. :3