Chapter sixteen – Ludwig and Feliciano

"So this year we've decided that London will be the destination of our annual school trip."

Mr. Belischmidt was holding one of his famously boring assemblies, though, rather than the students groaning when they entered the hall like usual, they were all a little jumpy and excited. Why? Because today was the students found out where they'd be staying with their friends for a week. And, at the mention of London, half the students who'd been hoping for somewhere abroad sighed heavily, while the other half, who'd been hoping for that very city, jumped up off their seats, whooping with excitement.

"Okay, okay, settle down," Mr. Belischmidt called over the noise, "I know it wasn't as good as Madrid last year, but really, London is a very inspirational city. Mr. Køhler was convinced you'd all prefer Copenhagen, but the staff all had a vote on it, and London won. For information on prices, please stay behind at the end of assembly to collect letters which will later be sent home to your parents. Any questions?"

Gilbert stuck up his hand, "Will it be educational?"

Mr. Belischmidt frowned at his son, "Yes."

There was a groan throughout the entire body of boys.

"Partly," the head corrected himself, not liking being the bad-guy in the room. People straightened up a little at this, "As you know, we'll be following the tradition of previous years by staying for a week. For the first and last day, you will be in my company, and we will be going from King's Cross train station straight to the Science Museum, and a number of art galleries. However, the five days in between, you will be free to do as you wish."

There was a huge, in-synch gasp at this from all the boys. This was new. They were hardly ever able to go off independently.

"Year Sevens, Eights and Nines will go around with a member of staff, however Year Tens and Elevens, you will be trusted to be sensible and be allowed to go around on your own, providing you're in groups at all times. Breakfast at the hotel will be served every morning at eight, and curfew will be at eleven pm. The trip it's self will be a week before we break up for Christmas, so about six weeks away. That's everything – you're dismissed."

The boys clambered up from their seats, either talking excitedly or bitterly complaining about the destination of the trip.

Arthur was amongst the positive group, while Owain, his conversation partner, was among the negative.

"I thought you liked London, anyway?" Arthur said, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

"I do, I do," Owain replied, "But wouldn't you want to go somewhere more exotic? A little warmer? Like… I don't know… Barbados?"

"I know this school is meant to be for well-off kids, but a destination like that for a week? I think that'd be pretty expensive," Arthur said simply.

"Okay, well Copenhagen would've been better! Or Paris, or somewhere abroad!"

"You are one very clever kid. Why aren't you in my German class?"

The boys looked up to see Mr. Køhler grinning down at Owain.

Owain looked up, a little confused, "Eh… French just seemed to appeal more…?"

Mr. Køhler frowned, "I was beginning to like you, too, seeing as you said Copenhagen would be better than London. You're right. But you're not right about French being better than German."

Arthur rolled his eyes a little. In the majority of his German classes, Mr. Køhler would start ranting about how French was an utterly pointless language. "I'd better go to maths. See you later, Owain," he waved at his brother, who was now trapped in a conversation with the Danish teacher.

"Ehh… Arthur-san, I couldn't help but overhear that you have maths next. Could I maybe walk with you?" Kiku slowly broke away from the crowd of boys exiting the hall, joining Arthur's side.

Arthur frowned in confusion, "Sure, but where're Feliciano and Ludwig?"

"I'm not entirely sure, actually… I haven't seen them for days."

"Oh…" Arthur said, and they fell into silence.

Kiku broke the silence, "Um… Arthur-san… I'm in a bit of a 'situation'. I was wondering, seeing as you seem to be quite logical with things like this… could you maybe help me?"

Arthur's eyebrows shot up. Him? Good at helping people? What planet was Kiku on? "Sure, I guess."

Kiku smiled gratefully, "Thank you. Well, I'm sure you've heard that I'm dating a boy called Lars? Goes to a different school – he's from the Netherlands."

"He does drugs?" Arthur asked, pretty sure he knew who Kiku was talking about.

"… Yes," Kiku admitted, "So, yes, I'm dating him… But, I feel… wrong," he paused, collecting himself, "I… I'm on 'dodgy ground' with Herac- ah, Karpusi Sensei."

"What?" Arthur blinked. He knew the relationship between Kiku and Heracles would be a bit awkward, particularly after their break up and now forbidden romance, but he thought Heracles would've controlled himself a little, especially considering his teaching status.

"He… Took me out on a date this weekend. And I really enjoyed it…"

"But…" Arthur was more than shocked at this news. He thought Kiku was meant to be responsible, "What if you get found out? What about Lars?"

Kiku nodded shamefully, "I know, I know… He hasn't spoken to me at all since the weekend… I don't know why. This has happened a few times before now. He just shuts down – makes no effort to contact anyone. I don't know if it's because of his own reasons, or if he's found out about Heracles and I…"

Arthur wanted to look Kiku in the eye, shake him and tell him to get a grip. He knew Kiku was better than this – Kiku was clever. He knew a relationship with a teacher could never work. Then again, no one predicted he'd go out with a guy that did drugs. No one predicted he'd be gay in the first place. Okay so Kiku was very unpredictable.

Just as Arthur was about ready to shout some sense into the Japanese boy – for his own good, mind – Kiku made a noise that made Arthur's words stick in his throat. He whimpered a little. And, when Kiku looked up, Arthur saw there were tears in his eyes.

Arthur couldn't shout at someone who obviously felt terrible for their actions. It was clear Kiku had beat himself up about this – he didn't need any more harsh words from Arthur.

"C'mere, Kiku," Arthur sighed, awkwardly pulling him into a half-hug, "Sit by me in maths and we'll sort this out, yeah?"

Kiku nodded tearfully as they climbed the stairs to their classroom.

Soon they were sitting down in the classroom; Arthur was listening tentatively as Kiku blabbed his heart out about the date at the weekend. Arthur found he had to hug Kiku quite a bit to stop him from crying too hard. Luckily it was the very beginning of the lesson, and students were still walking in – Alfred had yet to pass through the door, so Arthur felt safe hugging Kiku. It wasn't that he felt he was doing something wrong by hugging Kiku – he was just helping a friend. But he couldn't shift the feeling that Alfred, if he saw a hug, would somehow use it to his advantage and accuse Arthur of trying to make him jealous or something similar and false.

"Then, when we came to leave, he just hugged me and kissed my forehead. That was it – nothing else. But I think if he'd kissed me properly, then that would've been a little easier to deal with, if you know what I mean."

Arthur knew exactly what he meant, "Yeah, I understand… And, how did that make you feel, then…?"

Kiku blushed, "Ehh… well I don't want to sound unbelievable and cliché, but really… tingly inside. Like I was floating."

"I know how that feels too…" Arthur muttered, and then turned his head, facing Kiku completely, "Look, if I'm completely honest, you either need to cut things off with Lars and try and work things out with Heracles, or tell Heracles you can't go on the way you are, and continue dating Lars."

Kiku nodded, "I know, but I don't know which one to do…"

"If it were me, I think staying with Lars would be better. Although I don't think it's a good think you dating someone into drugs, I think it's better than trying to date your teacher. With Heracles you're also putting his job into jeopardy… hell you could both be taken to court, even. And anyway, from what I've heard, you've been good for Lars. I don't know him personally mind, but Gilbert's been telling me how he hasn't been smoking as much, at least."

"How on earth does Gilbert know?" Kiku blinked.

"How does Gilbert know anything?" Arthur shrugged.

Kiku smiled, "Thank you, Arthur, for the advice. I can't guarantee I'll use it, but another person's insight – especially yours – will always be helpful."

At that moment, Mr. Belischmidt marched in, silencing any conversation. Arthur smiled at Kiku, relaxing into his seat as Mr. Belischmidt sat down, until another person entered the room, captivating Arthur's attention. Of course it was Alfred, faithfully accompanied by Matthew. Usually Arthur wouldn't bat an eye at this, or at least would pretend to be indifferent. It was the fact Alfred and Matthew were coming in late together – Matthew, who was never late, ever. And the way Alfred was standing around Matthew – almost protectively – made Arthur's stomach churn with envy.

Kiku seemed to notice this too and tapped Arthur's shoulder gently in sympathy. Arthur smiled at his friend, and then looked up at Mr. Belischmidt, who was now writing things on the board – probably things Arthur should copy down.

Alfred sat down two rows in front of Arthur, not once making eye contact, Matthew quick at his tail. Arthur didn't like this at all. He was quite fond of Matthew in truth, but right now that Canadian was making him want to punch something – or preferably someone – very hard.

Meanwhile, at Alfred's seat in the classroom, he was staring at the desk, trying to make his hand write.

"Don't fret so much, Alfie," Matthew smiled reassuringly, "It'll be okay, yeah?"

"I doesn't feel okay…" Alfred sighed, straightening his glasses on his nose, "Do I look okay?"

"Same old you," Matthew said, patting Alfred's cowlick, and suddenly making Alfred panic and try to flatten the sticky-out piece of hair. "Don't worry, Alfie, you're not you without that annoyingly perky flick of yours, you're fine."

Alfred nodded sheepishly, "Thanks, Mattie."

The two leaned down to start their work. Oh joy, Alfred thought as he copied down the title. Spearman Rank Correlation Co-efficient. Fun.

Alfred's somewhat odd attitude wasn't just picked up by Arthur. Alastair and Owain who were sitting a row behind Kiku and Arthur were watching the American closely.

"Summin's up with him, isn't it?" Alastair frowned at his brother, lazily pointing toward the American with his pen.

Owain nodded grimly, "Don't know what, though… It's a bit fishy to say the least."

"Wonder what he plans to do to make Arthur cry this time?" Alastair said, copying down a problem off the board as he spoke.

"I wonder…" Owain frowned. Suddenly, Alfred looked up from the ground, where he was staring worriedly, and made perfect eye contact with the Welsh boy. Owain flinched a little, shocked at Alfred's sudden gaze. He had half a mind to look away, but there was something about his big blue eyes that made Owain melt a little. Even though this boy had hurt his brother deeply, the soft part of Owain just wanted to hug and forgive him. Those big blue eyes just begged for forgiveness.

"Alastair… I think we should talk to him…" Owain muttered.

"I don't want to listen to a word that bastard has to say," Alastair obviously didn't share Owain's open mind.

"What is going on, mon cher?" Francis leaned over from the row behind them, the back row, Gilbert and Antonio wanting to get a load of the gossip too. Alastair leaned away from Francis in disgust.

Owain answered, nodding towards Alfred, "Something's up with him. We reckon it's because he'd going to make a move on Arthur again – may it be a positive one or negative."

"You're right; he's not his usual arrogant self…" Antonio muttered.

"Kinda miss his obnoxious, un-awesome shouting," Gilbert murmured.

"That reminds me, Gilbert," Francis said to the German, "I need to talk to you later, can you wait for me at the end of the lesson?"

"Sure thing," Gilbert stuck out his tongue, a little confused as to what on earth Francis could want to talk about.

Feliciano, who was sitting on Owain's other side poked his head into the conversation, "So what's the situation with Arthur and Alfred?"

Owain smiled at Feliciano. He'd been a little worried about the Italian recently – he'd been uncharacteristically quiet for weeks on end, "Apparently the other night they were trying to make things up with each other, but in the end just ended up fighting."

"Sounds like me and Lovino," Antonio sighed happily, and then waved at said Italian from across the room. He'd been unlucky enough to be positioned right at the front of the class next to Ludwig – a seating plan that he was definitely not happy with.

"Never mind about Arthur and Alfred," Gilbert cut in, "What's going on with you and my brother, Feli?"

That caught everyone's attention. Gilbert had asked the question everyone else was afraid to ask. They all wheeled around on their seats to face Feliciano, immune to Mr. Belischmidt's annoyed, though ever so slightly curious glares from the front of the class.

"Well, ehh…" Feliciano looked at the floor, "I… ended it."

It took a moment to sink in.

"What!?" everyone whispered harshly at once, trying not to capture their teacher's attention more than they already had.

"Yeah… Not because he was being mean or anything, no, no, just because…" Feliciano sighed, "He thinks he might be going to London."

"Well Feli, we're all going to London – it's a school trip, but we'll be coming back!" Antonio smiled stupidly. Everyone ignored him.

"No," Feliciano cracked a slight smile, "I mean to live. Well, Oxford actually, but it's close enough…"

"Oxford? Like, the university?" Francis' mouth opened.

Feliciano nodded.

"Why's he going there? He hasn't even made it through collage yet!" Alastair narrowed his eyebrows.

"Well his dad's got connections, being in the position he's in… He pulled some strings and managed to get him a guaranteed place there whenever the time is right for him to go. Mr. Belischmidt was arranging for him to go to one of the collages quite near there to get used to life on his own and everything…"

Everyone stared at him in silence. Then Alastair suddenly realised.

"Hang on. Gilbert – you're his brother. How don't you know this!?"

Gilbert shrugged, "My family mustn't love me!" he pouted, "I never get to know stuff about this. Besides, I haven't seen Ludwig or dad for ages."

Owain then pulled the conversation back on topic, "So why did you break it with him now?"

Feliciano sighed. He sounded ten years older than he usually sounded… Something had made him mature very quickly, and no one was quite sure if they liked this drastic change, "Well, I've realised that me being with Ludwig is holding me back. I never see my friends – it's been ages since I've spoken with Kiku… It's not Ludwig's fault… It's just I think us being together will just chain us both to each other – I'll be holding back his studies, and he'll be pulling me away from my friends. I love him, of course I do. He loves me, too. But we both agreed that it was for the best… Especially if we broke it now. We could get used to life without each other – we can just be friends."

Everyone stared at him. Feliciano was actually feeling quite proud of himself.

Until their stares turned into disbelief.

"Bollocks. Feli, do the right thing and get back with him," Alastair shook his head, "Don't think about holding anyone back. Just be with the person you want to be with for as long as you can. You can manage to stay friends with Kiku and the others if you really try – same with Ludwig and his studies."

"I agree with Alastair, only I'd have phrased it a little nicer," Owain smiled sympathetically, "Be with him as long as you can – even if you can't stop him going to London; you can still have each other until you're forced to let go, yeah?"

Antonio smiled, "If you'd like, I could get Lovino to give you a motivational talk? Or I could get him to talk to Lovino?"

"What good would that do, Toni?" Gilbert laughed at the many mental images he was having, "That'd only cause more problems! A fucking war, even!"

Feliciano cut across them all with a light whimper. Everyone's head snapped up, staring at him. Then he very slowly covered his eyes and they all knew that tears were seeping out into his hands.

Everyone had seen Feliciano – it was practically a daily occurrence, his crocodile tears. But no one had seen him cry tears of sadness.

It really was heartbreaking.

Owain quickly enveloped the boy into his arms, quietly whispering words of encouragement to him, like a mother would when a child falls over and hurts their knee. Feliciano buried his face into Owain's warm shoulder, clinging to him. Everyone else just watched, awkwardly trying to think what they should say to the poor boy when he emerged from Owain's blazer.

"Thank you, everyone," Feliciano muttered under his breath, only just audible, "Your support really does mean a lot, y'know? I… really needed someone to talk to. Luckily I got all you."

"Stop being so noble and mature and just cry for fuck's sake, Feli," Alastair said as nicely as he could, "Let it out. Be as immature as you want and then return to the normal Feliciano we all know and love, yeah?"

Feliciano nodded, squeezing his eyes shut.

The rest of the lesson continued in the same way, Feliciano's sobs slowly getting quieter and quieter, until he just clung to Owain, dry tearstains on his cheeks, enjoying the feeling of being rocked like he was young again.

"Is everything alright, boys?"

All of the boys looked up, looking a little guiltily at Mr. Belischmidt.

"Everything's fine, dad," Gilbert waved his father away.

"Well then I'd like you to stop talking in my lessons," Mr. Belischmidt frowned.

The bell rung out, and the students all jumped up from their seats, running out the door.

"No worries! It's not your lesson any more, so we can talk!" Gilbert answered cheekily, grabbing Francis in one arm and Antonio in the other and pulling them out the door, ignoring his father's scolding. Owain, Alastair, now closely followed by Feliciano slipped out while the head wasn't looking, so they weren't pulled up for talking, either.

Second lesson, English, passed quickly. No one was really concentrating on the task they'd been given – to write a story titled 'The Visitor' – not even Heracles was focused. Everyone was wrapped up in their own thought. No one noticed the secret little glances Kiku and Heracles shot each other, and now and then the smallest of guilty smiles.

The bell rang, signalling break. Alfred climbed up from his seat, and marched past Arthur and Kiku who gave him a confused glance, right up to Owain and Alastair – coincidently the brothers were just about to go and find Alfred themselves.

"I need to talk with you, if that's okay…" Alfred said under his breath. So this is what he'd got himself so worked up about during Maths.

"Go ahead, moron," Alastair's stare was deadly, "Let's walk and talk, shall we?"

"Alastair…" Owain muttered quietly, trying to control his brother's manners at least a little.

"No, I agree, I deserve to be spoken to like that," Alfred hung his head, "It's not fair what I did to Arthur."

The pair looked up as they started walking down the corridor, "Is this an apology? Seems he's confused, Owain, he's coming to the wrong people, after all."

"I know I should be apologising to Arthur…" Alfred sighed, "I wanted to come to you first though – apologise to you and beg that, if ever Arthur wants me back, I'll have your permission to get with him."

"Bullshit. You're just too chicken to go and apologise to Arthur himself," Alastair spat.

"… That too…" Alfred admitted.

"Go on, Alfred, carry on with what you were saying," Owain said encouragingly. Alfred smiled at Owain's support, thankful that at least he was being given a chance.

"Well, I got this idea last night, and I'm pretty convinced that, if I pull it off right Arthur might see that my apology is sincere. But I need your help."

Alastair frowned, "Count me out. Maybe I'll forgive you for what you did to my little brother in a few years. For now you're a complete bastard in my eyes, and nothing's changing tha'."

Owain sighed as Alastair stalked off moodily, "Ignore him, I'm sure he'll come around. So what was this idea of yours, then?"

Alfred smiled, "Right, well. I think you'll like this."

Owain really did like it. A grin spread across his face as Alfred told him his plan.

"Alfred, that is genius! It's so sweet too. If Arthur doesn't forgive you, I'll go and slay a dragon and eat it. Maybe Alastair'll even forgive you after this. I'll go and get Francis! He'll be vital to us if we want to pull this off."

A/N

Sorry this chapter kinda sucked ._. especially after the long wait ^^" I swear it's going to get better, though! That was all pretty important info, it wasn't just fillers, so no worries :) And sorry if I got your hopes up for GerIta in this chapter ;; I swear there will be some, though X'D and some Spamano X'D
Thank you for kind, kind reviews! Over 100! :DD*hugs* I love you! And if you enjoyed, feedback is always encouraged! :D
I'll get to work on the next chapter now, seeing as I'm in the mood X'D hopefully it'll be up sooner…
Hopefully. X'D