2P GerIta: Falling

8: End-Prologue

"Luciano."

Our bodies were spent and sore, Lutz was unlikely to walk straight when he would rise, the bed was a mess, and I was absentmindedly stroking the sweaty blonde hair off the forehead of the man lying beside me.

Of course, the seriousness and reverence with which he spoke my name drew my eyes to his, though my body remained in its disinterested position adjacent to his, completely relaxed after taking the German besides me-all aggression and fire before, but total calm now.

"What?" I acknowledged in a short, clipped tone, though with no malice or actual impatience behind it as I continued playing with his hair. In fact, my voice could almost have been described as sweet and almost caring-greatly pleased-in comparison to my usual manner of speech.

"I love you."

And just like that, all my motions stopped and I sat up, once lax body now tensed and moving away from Lutz as I rose from the bed without glancing at him.

"I love you," he repeated, sitting up and standing as I did-sure enough, he held his body awkwardly, posture and bearing all wrong for a military man, but just right for a man who had just been in bed under another male.

I thought back to when he had first told me this statement-weeks ago-and I had dismissed him on the spot; I considered doing the same now, but instead I chose to do nothing, continuing towards my closet to dress myself instead as I heard Lutz trying to put back on his clothes as gracefully and smoothly as possible until I came back out into the room to an expectant and still shirtless German killer-who had heartlessly executed millions of lives at the flick of my finger, bent on doing my bidding since our alliance had first formed decades ago-but who now was staring at me in a way saying he was just as human as I had demonstrated I was just before to start all this.

"You know I do not feel such frivolous and pointlessly weak things as love," I stated bluntly, turning to lock eyes with Lutz to be sure he was listening.

I had known this man for many years-I was hardly shocked when I discovered he could have cared less what words were coming out of my mouth right then, since they did not benefit him in any way, and therefore held no interest to him. Contradictorily, he was moving towards me, and pressed his lips to mine in need for me and desire to make me understand and admit-out loud-what I was feeling.

And though my body reacted and heat flared inside of me, I kept my mind in check and struggled to maintain control of my actions despite the mutual want inside of me for Lutz.

"I despise love, and I see no need for those who feel it."

And Lutz could only look at me as I walked out from there as well; just like so many of our encounters, leaving him unsatisfied and unreciprocated, and refusing to let myself break down this time.

"Hey, stop!" The shout, however, did stop me in my tracks-Lutz was not one to yell for any reason, and though he had made some rather loud noises a few moments ago in bed, he was fundamentally a quiet man, either laughing lowly or speaking softly; I was more the one to anger and scream at others for hours on their lack of initiative and logical flow of thought and action, not Lutz. So I couldn't deny the call caught my attention, and I decided I might as well be amused-but not effected-by whatever display of pathetic emotion Lutz had to show me.