New chapter :3
Ludwig let out a deep involuntary sigh as he sat at the breakfast table, today was the first day in almost a month that he'd gotten up before 2pm. For some reason he constantly found himself unable to sleep at night, staying up until the early hours of the morning and sleeping through most of the day, he'd been told it was usual for teens with depression to suffer through strange sleeping patterns, but that didn't help.
He felt a lot better today, it happened occasionally, he'd wake up feeling almost normal and unless something went wrong he'd feel relatively happy throughout the day. But even then one bad thing would send him back into the pit of anger and sadness that he'd grown so used to.
Gilbert smiled as he took his own seat, putting his food down next to his paper and placing Ludwig's food down in front of him.
"I thought we could go out today," Gilbert said, posing the sentence as a suggestion, though Ludwig knew he had no real say, if Gilbert said 'perhaps we should' or 'I thought we could' it meant it was going to happen.
"Where?" Ludwig asked, cutting up his bacon and sausages before beginning to shovel down the food.
Gilbert huffed softly, leaning back in his chair, "There's a theme park a couple of hours away. It opened last week."
Ludwig perked up slightly, a soft smile coming to his face, "Really?" he'd heard about that park but he'd never dreamt of going there, he'd assumed it would be too expensive, especially as Gilbert had had to take some time off work to look after him.
"Can we afford it..?" he asked, his voice weakening slightly.
Gilbert scoffed, rolling his eyes, "Don't worry about that Ludwig," he chuckled and shook his head, "We're going to the theme park, we can eat there and everything, we're doing the full works."
Ludwig nodded reluctantly, "Ok… Ok that sounds good."
Gilbert smiled widely, "Awesome. We're leaving at 9:30, so, finish your food and get dressed. There won't be any traffic because it's a weekday, we'll get there by 11."
Ludwig let out a weak chuckle, beginning to eat his food quickly and happily as Gilbert began reading the paper.
His smile fell fast as he saw a small photo at the bottom of the front page. The figure was undoubtedly Feliciano, but he looked different, he looked pale and sickly, dirty and messy.
"Gil," he grunted, looking at the photo, Gilbert took a moment to realise what he was looking at, frowning as he looked at the photo and scanned the story.
"Oh," the older man said softly, letting out a huff. The story was grossly exaggerated, but it might be a good idea for Ludwig to read it? Maybe it would help him see that he wasn't the only one suffering? "Do you want to read it?" he asked.
Ludwig let out a soft huff, he wasn't sure if he should or not, Gilbert stuck the paper out towards him, shaking it slightly to urge him to take it.
He let his will break and took the paper, reading the small story about the foreign star.
He frowned at the content, it was saying that Feliciano had been seen in public, dishevelled, breaking down due to his own depression.
Atypical behaviour; Ludwig knew Feliciano would never talk about his problems openly in front of other people, Romano would never let him, he knew how much the older man cared about their public image. He was surprised he allowed him to leave the house dressed as he was.
Ludwig let out a small huff, putting the paper on the table.
"Something wrong?" Gilbert pried gently.
Ludwig chewed his lip, "I feel sorry for him," he said quietly, looking down at his food.
Gilbert let out a small grunt, "…I don't think he's faking."
Ludwig frowned, pushing his food around his plate, "Me either," he looked up, "But that doesn't change what he did."
The older man sighed and nodded, absentmindedly pulling up the leg of his jeans to scratch his ankle. "Well try not to focus on it," he forced a smile, "We're having a fun day remember? Finish your food or we'll leave late."
It took Ludwig a few minutes to force the food down his gullet and force the unpleasant thoughts out of his mind, he focussed so hard on not thinking about Feliciano that he was dressed in one of his old green shirts with his favourite pair jeans and about to get in the car before he knew it.
...
...
Feliciano flopped onto the sofa, fully dressed in his pale blue hoodie and a pair of new dark trousers that in his opinion made his arse look fantastic. He had no idea why Romano had made him get up so early, he was half asleep still, it was only nine o'clock, he shouldn't be awake for another two hours at least.
He'd done everything Romano had asked robotically, gotten up, gotten dressed, eaten, taken his pills, brushed his teeth, put a hamper full of food in the car. When Romano had stopped giving him instructions he'd wandered into the living room and sat down.
Wait why had Romano asked him to put food in the car?
He needed some coffee…
He stumbled into the kitchen, finding a pot of coffee had already been made, he poured himself some and drank it fast, so fast he gave himself hiccups, but he felt more alert within minutes.
But maybe that was simply the pills finally kicking in? Who knew?
"Romano?" Feliciano shouted, his voice cracking, no idea where his brother was in the house. "Where are we going?"
The sound of his brother's voice echoed down from his room, presumably now that Romano had gotten Feliciano ready he was getting ready himself. "To that amusement park remember?" he yelled down, "We talked about it last night."
Truthfully Feliciano didn't remember, he'd been half asleep then too. He was tired all the time now, he could tell it annoyed Romano, but he couldn't help it, he couldn't stop it, part of him believed the only reason it annoyed him was because he often fell asleep while Romano was playing his games, and it meant Romano couldn't cheer as loudly as he wanted when he won, or swear as much when he lost.
"Oh ok," Feliciano shouted back up, pretending he knew what was happening.
An amusement park would be nice, he guessed, he'd not been to one in years, he'd been too busy.
He felt excitement build inside him, he let out a small squeak, an odd burst of happiness. The pills really must be working for him if he were able to get excited about this.
He stood in the doorframe, waiting for Romano to come down to explain to him properly what was happening,
The older man practically jumped down the stairs, seeming uncharacteristically exuberant, maybe the pills weren't working and Feliciano was reflecting Romano's odd mood.
Feliciano giggled at the man's appearance, "Romano, your hair?" he said, gesturing to the messy mop on his older brother's head.
Romano blushed visibly, frowning, "…I just thought I'd try something different."
Feliciano let out a tiny scoff, shaking his head, "Romano your hair looks fine normally, You don't need to do this." He giggled again, stepping forward to straighten his hair with his fingers.
"Feli," Romano half-growled, "Stop it, I want to look good today."
"And now you do look good," Feliciano smiled as he pulled away, "Perfect."
Romano huffed loudly, running his own fingers through his hair, "Fine, whatever… Did you drink your coffee?" Feliciano nodded. "Take your pills?" He nodded again. "Brush your teeth?" Another nod.
"You don't need to baby me Romano," Feliciano cooed. "Now where is it that we're going..?"
"An amusement park, I told you, we're taking a picnic. Have you forgotten what today is?"
Feliciano frowned, all attempts to think failing him.
A picnic sounded nice though, he'd always loved picnics."
Romano smirked and scoffed softly, "It's the anniversary of your first hit, Feli. I thought we should do something special."
"Oh," Feliciano said, biting his lip. He didn't want to think about his career right now, it made him feel so bad, he couldn't handle it. "…If we go to the park, can you not talk about it..?"
Romano shifted on his feet: this was what he got for trying to do something nice… though the amusement park might take his mind off it, so it paid off either way.
"Maybe we should go now," Romano started, smiling and patting Feliciano's arm.
The boy frowned, "Promise you won't talk about it," he pled.
Romano nodded, "I won't if you don't want me to. Your wallet's in the car already, let's get going so we don't hit traffic."
The next chapter is gunna be so good guys omg!
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