Doodles On Your Skin [Gerita Fanfic]

3. Friend

"So you two were friends since childhood?" Emma started up the conversation as the group walked down the school's corridor.

"Ludwig and I were in kindergarten together," Feliciano explained, "He was so shy but I managed to become his friend after a few weeks of bothering him nonstop,"

"Speaking of bothering nonstop..." Lovino said darkly and glared at Antonio.

Antonio sighed, "Are you really mad about that?"

"Mad about that?!" Lovino repeated in a way that showed that indeed, he was mad about it, "You and your stupid friends bullied me nonstop throughout the first grade!"

"We did not bully you," Antonio tried to clarify, "Gilbert and Francis and I just wanted to include you in our friend group,"

"By teasing me and tackling me almost everyday?" Lovino crossed his arms.

"Yeah... That's how we played with each other. Trust me, at least you didn't get roughhoused by Gilbert with sporks,"

"Well, I didn't like how you teased me about my height and my accent,"

"To be fair, your accent is cute,"

Lovino punched Antonio's shoulder and turned away so no one could see how flustered he was, "Shut up,"

"Lovino's not always this defensive," Romeo whispered to Emma, "Only when he has a crush,"

"I heard that you little bastard!" Lovino yelled at his brother who pretended he didn't do anything.

"Anyways," Antonio brought back the attention towards him, "If it really matters to you, then I apologize for all those years ago,"

Lovino glanced at him and crossed his arms, "Thanks, I guess. You were the nicest from the bunch. I guess I can tolerate you as long as the other two are not here-"

Just then, the bell rang for break and the students piled out of their classrooms. And the door right next to them was swung open and out came the people of the hour, Francis Bonnefoy and Gilbert Beilschimdt.

"Hey, Antonio!" The German went over to tackle his friend, "Where were you? We were bored all class!"

"I was busy showing someone around," Antonio pointed at Lovino, who was attempting to hide behind his brothers.

"What are you doing showing a freshman around?" Gilbert snorted.

"Did you just called me a fucking Freshman?!" Lovino yelled out of impulse.

"Oh my!" Francis exclaimed, "Well if it isn't our old friend with the dirty mouth!"

"No way!" Gilbert pushed Antonio aside to get a closer look, "Dude, you're still short!"

"Gilbert, don't start bothering him," Ludwig decided to finally speak up after watching the interesting conversation go down.

Gilbert's attention shifted to his brother and the familiar face next to him, "Is that you Feliciano? This is awesome!"

"Yup! My brothers and I moved back here from Italy," Feliciano went ahead and greeted the Senior with a hug, "I missed all of you!"

"Yeah, you left without a warning," Gilbert glanced at his younger brother, "He cried when you went missing,"

"I did not," Ludwig said defensively, knowing that his face probably turned red. He changed the focus of the subject, "But he's right, Feli, you left without a warning,"

"Oh, yeah," Feliciano chuckled nervously, "I'm sorry about that... It was a last minute move and even we didn't know until the day of. But I missed you a lot too,"

"It's fine," Ludwig reassured him, "At least you're here again,"

"And this time, we won't disappear without notice, right?" The Italian responded with a smile. He took out a sharpie he had in his pocket and grabbed Ludwig's hand, "Here. Have my number before I forget,"

Ludwig stared at the digits on the back of his hand and took the marker from his friend to do the same on the other, "You know we could've just put it on our contacts on our phones, right?"

"True, but class already started, didn't it?"

"It did?" Gilbert asked and looked around to see the hallway wad empty. He looked at Francis, which both shrugged, "That sucks. I guess we're gonna stroll around with you guys,"

"Great," Lovino muttered sarcastically.

As they continued their tour of the school, they showed them where their classes would be based on their schedules and other important places, like the nurse's office and the cafeteria. Ludwig glanced at Feliciano's hand, which he suddenly panicked, realizing he was still holding it. He didn't know why he panicked. They used to do it all the time as children. But that was kindergarten and now they're teenagers. Yet he didn't pull away, in fear that it will cause a commotion. But it was already too late when Gilbert noticed and made eye-contact with Ludwig and wiggles his eyebrows, making the younger brother blush more in embarrassment. He didn't like Feliciano. He barely knew him. They had barely reunited about anything hour ago, it would be too silly. At least that's what he kept repeating to himself.

"Oh, look! We have two classes together!" Feliciano interrupted Ludwig's thoughts and pointed at his schedule, "Science and Literature,"

"Just two?" Ludwig checked and indeed, his friend was right.

"We can join clubs together!" The Italian suggested, "What clubs are part of?"

"Um... None," Ludwig awkwardly answered.

"Oh," Feliciano looked at him curiously, "What about friends? Or hobbies"

Gilbert couldn't help but snicker, knowing that Ludwig's answer would be 'I only have one and we don't talk that much anymore cause he got a real obvious crush on a popular kid,'. As for hobbies, Ludwig wasn't known for having any other talents other than good time management and getting good grades. Overall, Ludwig was known as the boring kid that no one wants to talk to.

"I, uh, I'm too busy to have time for myself" Ludwig glared at his older brother so he could stop giggling and continued, "As for friends, I mostly 'hang out' with Gilbert and his friends and another classmate. I'll introduce you to him during Lunch. That is, if he's not too busy..."

"Okay!" Feliciano looked at the booklet with the school's information, "Hmm, we can join journalism together. Or student council. Or soccer! Oh! They have an art class"

"You like art?" Ludwig smiled, remembering the messy crayon drawing Feliciano would do all day and give it to him during their school days. He wasn't surprised that he would continue that passion.

"I love it! I like to draw all types of things,"

As Ludwig and Feliciano kept talking, Gilbert watched for a moment. He noticed how comfortable his little brother was and so expressive and talkative with his old friend. How he gladly had his hand when Ludwig was known for hating physical contact.

Instead of interrupting the conversation like he usually would do, he went ahead to the rest of the group to bother Lovino with Antonio and Francis. One thing was certain; he couldn't wait to see how all of this plays out.

_________________

A/N:

I promise the soulmate part will come into play soon, bear with me -v-

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I appreciate all comments and votes and I'll see ya next update!