Chapter One – The Soccer Team

"West! Get your ass over here, already, we're going to be late!" Gilbert Beilschmidt barked at his younger brother who glared up at him before deliberately slamming shut the boot of the green Opel Omega. The two brothers glared at each other as Ludwig fixed his long black coat, heavy boots clunking against the ground as he strode to his brother's side.

Ludwig sighed and shook his head as Gilbert took hold of his arm and dragged him towards the school gym. "Honestly, Gilbert … why do you even need me to come with you to these damned practises? You know I can't stand hockey, and besides it's you that wants to see Matthew. Not me."

The slightly shorter brother scowled and punched Ludwig in the arm with a little more force than was actually necessary. "You know damned well why I need you to come with me!" he snapped before continuing his fast pace. "I refuse to miss Matt's games and training sessions which means you gotta come so it doesn't look too suspicious."

"I'm sure Matthew won't mind you missing it once. He could meet you back at ours afterwards!" At the severe scowl Gilbert sent his way, Ludwig sighed and gave up arguing. He had a lot of work to do and didn't exactly want to waste an hour or more making sure Gilbert didn't jump his secret boyfriend in front of the entire hockey team. However he lived too far from school to simply walk home, and Gilbert was his only chance of a ride. Heracles still insisted upon ensuring Kiku got home without incident – and by now all of his other friends had left the premises.

So, as always, Ludwig relented and followed his brother to the seats over-looking the team's practise session.

Their presence was, by now, so regular that none on the team even glanced up at the brothers. Except for Matthew Williams who gave them a quick wave before instructing the others to get started on warm-ups, and Ivan Braginski. He was one of Matthew's best friends, as well as vice-captain of the team. The large Russian-born boy grinned at the pair unnervingly. Even though Gilbert's eyes were constantly fixed upon Matthew, Ludwig saw it. He didn't like the chill Ivan's eyes took on when they looked at Gilbert.

Unlike his older brother, who paid rigid attention to the happenings below them, Ludwig decided he would prefer to make the best use of this free time he could. He had left his back in the boot of the Omega, so getting started on his work was out of the question – but earlier that day Kiku had mentioned something that had peaked his interest considerably.

His favourite band were due to start their latest tour of the United states fairly soon. And according to Kiku one of the venues listed was in the next town over and would take place in three months time. It was starting to get a little later on to procure tickets than Ludwig was generally comfortable with but there was just enough time left that it wasn't an impossible feat. As such he was quickly tapping away at the screen of his smart phone, until it got to the point where he had to make a very serious decision: one ticket or two?

Usually Gilbert or Abel accompanied Ludwig whenever he went to a gig, however both of them had prior engagements on the date it would be taking place. It wasn't as though Ludwig needed the company, he was hardly a small child who needed his hand held in case he wandered too far from the shopping trolley. Still these things were just that little bit more enjoyable when you had someone with you and didn't have to resort to socialising with strangers. He suppressed a shudder at the very thought.

Kiku wouldn't particularly want to go, he preferred far softer music. Besides it was unlikely Heracles would allow his boyfriend to go without him. Ludwig really didn't want to pay for a third ticket.

Eventually he settled for ordering two tickets, just in case somebody became free on that evening. If nothing else, he supposed he could take Nikola. If absolutely nothing else. Honestly, Ludwig didn't mind the Bulgarian's company, in fact they had quite a bit in common. The problem came when they met up outside of school: Nikola was far too hands-on for Ludwig's tastes and it was uncomfortable. How Serghei (a student of Romanian descent who also fell victim to Nikola's attention) could put up with it and still smile so much throughout, Ludwig would never be able to figure out.

Just as he confirmed the order Gilbert threw a fist into the air, missing Ludwig's cheek by mere millimetres, with a cheer of encouragement. Ludwig glared pointlessly at his older brother, who was too focussed on watching the team practise to pay any sort of attention to Ludwig's grievances.

With a heavy sigh Ludwig gave up on Gilbert and decided to listen to some music while pretending to watch the practise - when in reality he was planning his homework schedule for the next three months. He had to keep on top of the work so that he could enjoy the gig without worrying about falling behind with his schooling. After all Ludwig had goals (in spite of what he looked like), and the most efficient route to obtaining those goals involved keeping on top of his education.

Eventually Ludwig was brought out of his musings by Gilbert taking out his earphones. The albino snorted with a shake of his head. "If you're going to zone out at least make it look like you're paying attention, West. One of these days we're gonna get caught out!"

After a quick glance down at the field which told Ludwig that the team had finished practising, he raised an eyebrow at his brother. He couldn't really be serious could he? "Somehow I think the team are usually far too occupied with practising for their games to notice whether or not I'm actually watching them or not." The dry comment earned him a hard punch to the shoulder.

"Smart-ass. You're lucky you're my brother, West, or I wouldn't be letting you off so lightly." Gilbert huffed, getting to his feet and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Ludwig just rolled his eyes and put away his phone, following Gilbert behind the Bleachers where they always waited for Matthew.

After the usual exact fifteen minutes the captain of the Hockey team came into view with a small smile curling at his lips. Ludwig looked away as the couple shared a hug and kissed deeply in greeting. He didn't begrudge them the affection, it was just uncomfortable being around them when they were doing couple-type things. Even after they finished both Gilbert and Matthew kept an arm each around the other.

"Sorry Gilbert keeps dragging you here with him, Ludwig." Matthew said sincerely. "I keep telling him there's no need, but he's just paranoid."

Ludwig just shrugged, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "Don't worry about it. I've lived with him long enough not to expect any less from Gilbert." The two of them chuckled, ignoring the older brother's indignant glare. Gilbert fished around in his pocket and shoved the car keys into Ludwig's hand, telling him to go and wait there while he and Matthew 'talked strategy'. Which really meant: shove our tongues down each others' throats while groping everywhere we can reach.

With a roll of his eyes Ludwig shoved the keys into a pocket and turned to leave the nauseating (and loneliness-inducing) scene when a deliberately loud and obnoxious voice caused them all to freeze. Ludwig didn't even need to turn around to know who had just arrived; witnessing Gilbert and Matthew's current intimacy.

Why did it have to be the soccer team? Jones, Ludwig could have handled. For all his single-minded obstinacy, he was easy to deal with and incredibly predictable. No one from the hockey team would have been a problem either, they were too close to Matthew to turn on him over something like this. But this was Lovino Vargas and the soccer team. If Antonio had been there it would be a different story - he was friends with Gilbert. But Antonio was absent today, and Lovino was not going to keep his over-worked mouth shut about what he had just seen.

"Tch. Always knew the hockey team's captain was a faggot." Lovino sneered, puffing his chest out like he had just beaten Ivan Braginski in a wrestling match. A few of the boys behind him sniggered, cracking their knuckles in preparation for a fight. "Just wait until I tell Tony that both his 'amigos' are pathetic little bitches!"

Gilbert snarled, wrenching out of Matthew's restraining grip. "You ain't gonna tell Tony anythin', Vargas! But if you wanna see who the bitch here is, why don't you put your fists where your damned mouth is, huh?"

"Gilbert!" Ludwig hissed discouragingly, grabbing hold of his brother's shoulder. "Don't be such an idiot and calm down!" but Gilbert wasn't listening. It was no secret that he and Lovino had been looking for an excuse to batter one another for a long time now, and they had just found it. With a yell Gilbert launched himself at Lovino, only to find himself shoved to the ground by Jamar Nwosu.

Ludwig was there within milliseconds, grabbing Jamar by the shirt and punching him as hard as possible in the face. It didn't matter if Gilbert was being an idiot, if he was going to pick a fight with someone then no one else was getting involved. Even if Ludwig had to suffer for it.

Jamar reeled back, clutching a bloodied nose and glaring at Ludwig as he prepared to rush again. That is until another voice was heard over the anticipation of the ensuing fight. An overly cheery laugh rang out as Lovino's younger brother made his way towards Matthew with a huge grin on his face. He clapped the stunned Canadian on the shoulder heartily and shoved some money into his hand. "Guess you proved me wrong, Matt!"

"Feliciano, just what the Hell are you doing?" Lovino fumed. Feliciano just grinned wider and laughed again, this time with a little bit more tremble.

"You see, we were talking the other day at lunch about Tony and his friends. And I decided it would be fun to make a bet with him! Francis and Tony were out of the question, of course. So I settled on Gilbert! I bet him twenty bucks he wouldn't be able to convince Gilbert Beilschmidt to make out with him by the end of the week. He proved me wrong!" Feliciano gulped slightly and Ludwig wondered if this resolve was going to crack under Lovino's glare.

"Tch, damn it you're such an idiot!" Lovino waved a hand and Jamar fell back in line. "Don't get involved with my brother's half-baked ideas, ya got it? They'll only get ya into trouble!" he warned Matthew before stomping away, clearly annoyed that he had apparently been wrong. Once they were gone Feliciano let out a sigh of relief and smiled apologetically at Ludwig and the other two.

"Sorry about that, Lovino's been having a really bad day ..."

Ignoring Gilbert's bitter mumbling about Lovino always having a bad day Matthew gave a grateful smile and handed the money back to Feliciano with an awkward but entirely grateful 'Thank you'. Ludwig, however was too suspicious to just let things drop like that.

"Why did you step in?This had nothing to do with you." Feliciano frowned at Ludwig, raising his hands to placate the larger boy in case his temper was about to boil over without warning. Of course he would have heard the warnings about going near the younger Beilschmidt brother. Rumours and stories had a habit of getting around the school - especially unfounded ones about Ludwig being angry and dangerous because of the way he looked and the music that he listened to.

"Don't tell anyone but Lovino's real close to losing his place on the team, because of his temper. I didn't want him to get kicked out because he gets suspended for getting into another fight. Besides," here the grin returned, and the sheer brightness of it made Ludwig's eyes hurt "everyone deserves the freedom to be happy!"

Gilbert rolled his eyes with a short, almost barking laugh. "Enough with the interrogation, West. The kid helped out, that's good enough for me. Now let him get back before his team starts wondering where he is; we can get home to feed your mutts and ourselves."

A/N: Okay! Now that Vollmonds is finished I'm going to be working a lot more on this story and the other two I have on the go! I apologise for the long wait in this chapter coming out but I had a lot of trouble getting the time to do any writing, and then it took ages for me to be happy with what I have here.

Here we have the first official meeting between Ludwig and Feliciano!

Hope you guys enjoyed it, and I promise the next chapter won't take as long to get out.

Let me know what you thought, especially if there's anything you think I can improve on. Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next chapter!