Title: I'm Shy

Pairing: Germany x Italy

Rating: K Plus to T, I think

"Feli, how long will this take?" asked Ludwig, squirming slightly in his seat.

"Ve, please stop moving around, Luddy, or I will mess up the picture!"

"But how long will this take? I have three dogs waiting for me at home, and a brother I need to kick out of my house!"

"J-just a moment longer!" Feliciano called frantically as he began to scratch more lines onto his canvas. Truth be told, he had barely been drawing. He just wanted to spend time with his German friend, and if spending time with him meant that he had to pretend to draw him, then so be it. It would be far too awkward to actually invite Ludwig to get coffee or something, so he had instead decided to draw Ludwig for his art class. He had told Ludwig that he needed to draw a person and that their mutual friend Sakura, a girl from Japan, was busy, even though he hadn't even asked her. He felt really guilty about that at first, but the more private time he spent with Ludwig the more he didn't really care about the lie.

"Okay, you can go now, Luddy~!" said Feliciano as soon as he had enough lines to convince his German friend that he had actually been doing something.

"See you later, Feliciano." Ludwig said formally even as he got up and stretched- which was very informal. He was sending mixed messages again...

"Call me Feli~!" Feli said brightly. "I like it better when people call me Feli,"

"Okay... Feli," Ludwig said, sounding slightly awkward. "I'll see you tomorrow, ja?"

"Ja!" Feli mimicked, giggling. "Arrivederci!"

Ludwig opened the door of the room and left and as soon as he was out of sight Feliciano seemed to deflate, like all the air- or maybe life, happiness, something important -had been sucked out of him. If only he wasn't so shy! He could have walked up to Ludwig, told him how he felt, and then kissed him full on the mouth. Feli knew that that's what his brother would have done. That's what his brother had done. Why couldn't he be more like his brother? His brother knew what he wanted and then he got what he wanted, even if that meant gathering up his scant courage and confessing in front of everyone.

His brother had always been the braver one.

Feli sighed and began to pack up is art supplies, ordering them carefully. First the charcoal pencils went in, and then the color pencils, all arranged by color, and then the regular pencils, the pastels, the paints (which he had gotten out without thinking) and brushes.

"Maybe tomorrow," he said to himself quietly. "Maybe tomorrow I will tell him." He grabbed his art case and closed it carefully, then used the built-in strap to button it closed. "Yeah! That's what I'll do!" he suddenly cried, making a fist with his hand. "I'll go right up to him like this-" He walked forward, eyes locked on empty air as if his friend were standing right there. "-and then I'll grab his hands like this-" He reached forward and grabbed empty air. "-and then I'll look him right in the eyes-" He looked fiercely up at nothing. "-and say 'Ludwig Beilschmidt, I love you!' That's what I'll do!" Feli grabbed his art case and turned towards the door to see-

-Ludwig standing in the doorway, staring at him with a shocked expression on his face. Feliciano went completely white and dropped his art case. "H-how much did you hear-?" he stammered.

"I'm sorry," Ludwig said, backing up. "I-I have to go... now... I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He turned and then was gone. Feli dropped to the ground as his legs came out from under him.

"What... what have I done...?" he whispered softly to himself.

AYE**LUV**YOU

The last thing Feliciano ever wanted to do was get out of bed.

The evening before kept replaying over and over through his head. The look on Ludwig's face seemed permanently etched into his retinas. Ever time he closed his eyes he saw his face, dancing through the darkness of his eyelids. Every time he opened his eyes he saw the afterimage of Ludwig's face. He had seemed so... surprised. So, so terribly surprised, and maybe... horrified? Had he seemed horrified? Feliciano couldn't remember. He didn't want to remember. He wanted to hide under his bed. He wanted one of the monsters from Supernatural to splatter him all over the walls.

"Fratellino, get the fuck up!" shouted his brother, banging on the door a couple of times. "You have an early class today, don't you? Don't you fucking dare fail college!"

"I'm not getting up!" Feliciano replied squeakily, voice muffled by the blankets. "I'm going to stay here until I die-"

His bedroom door slammed open and there stood a bloodthirsty demon- I mean, Lovino, Feliciano's older brother. He was already a college graduate and was letting Feliciano stay at the apartment he shared with his Spanish boyfriend (something far greater than just a regular boyfriend) Antonio.

"What did you just say about dying?" Lovino asked pleasantly. Feliciano, trembling in fear, peeked over the top of his blankets. As soon as he saw his brother's face he practically flew out of bed, and by the time he was standing in front of his closet he was naked and pulling on a button-down shirt.

"That's what I thought," Lovino said with a triumphant smirk. "Now get ready for class, dammit, and if I hear that you've skipped-" He flashed Feliciano a friendly, demonic smile. "I'll kill you~!"

Feliciano felt a shiver go down his spine as his brother turned and left the room. He had used the squiggle.

Feliciano (mostly because of Lovino's... "urgings") managed to make it to class on time. He sat down with a relieved sigh, happy to finally be free of Lovino and the fact that he kept staring murderously down at Feliciano while he was eating breakfast for some strange reason.

Feliciano was just starting to feel happy again when Ludwig sat down next to him. They shared this class. That was how they had first met. And sadly, Sakura wasn't here today.

Awkward...

Feliciano tried to scoot away from his friend without it being noticeable, but as soon as he started squirming around Ludwig grabbed him by the shoulders and wrenched him around to face him.

"Feli, about yesterday," he said in a rush. "I heard what you said and I'm sorry I didn't mean to spy and I know that was private and I'm sorry but... oh, how do I explain this?" he asked suddenly, looking anxiously at Feli.

"I-I don't know, Luddy... what are you trying to say-"

Before he could finish Ludwig had pulled him forward and pressed a long, sweet kiss to his mouth. Feli stared, wide-eyed, at him for a moment before closing his eyes and leaning into it. When they finally broke away, Feli was a little breathless and his lips tingled strangely for some reason.

"Um... yeah." Ludwig said, as if that explained everything. And, in a way, it did.

"Hey, Vargas, Beilschmidt!" the teacher asked dryly. "Is there something you want to share with the rest of us?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked at them.

"Yep!" Feli said happily. "We're going to leave now!" He stood up and pulled Ludwig to his feet.

"We're leaving? Where to?" asked Ludwig, completely confused.

"To go somewhere more private!" Feli said happily, not caring about all the weird looks he was getting.

"Oh..." was all Ludwig managed to say.

A/N HAHA I MANAGED TO HIT ONE THOUSAND WORDS FUCK YES! *celebrates* And oh, I hope you guys realize that the next oneshot I do will definitely be in this universe but about Lovi and Toni. And sorry that I keep going back to them but they're my one and only OTP... so yeah... X3