- Feliciano's POV -
I stared at clock for the 5th time in the past minute, anxiously waiting for time to change to 6:00 pm, but the 5 minutes seemed to take forever. I sighed, and then Lovino's voice and hand that waved in front of me brought my attention.
"Hello? Earth to Feliciano?" He said louder, "What the hell are you thinking about, bastard?"
"Oh, sorry," I blinked, finally tearing my eyes away from the clock, "What did you want?"
Lovino groaned and shook his head, "I said that I need you to start making the coffee. You're supposed to be working, not dozing off like an idiot,"
I glanced back at the clock, "Actually, my shift ends in about 3 minutes so-"
"So, nothing," Lovino snapped, "I want to get off my shift too but I ain't complaining. Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Uh, no reason," I lied. It was clear that Lovino had forgotten that I was going to go out with Ludwig on a date. I had been thinking about it all day and as 7:00 got closer, my heart beat got faster.
"Then can you just make me the coffee and wait until Elizabetha and Roderich take over?"
I restraint myself from whining, hoping the two minutes will fly by rapidly.
________________________________
"Ok boys, we can take over now-"
As soon as Elizabetha came downstairs, I took off my apron and ran up to my room to get ready.
"What's up with your brother?" Elizabetha asked Lovino.
He shrugged, "He's fucking weird..."
__________________________________
- Lovino's POV -
Tired, I took my apron and vest and walked down the hallway, ready to go and jump into bed already. As I passed down the hall, I noticed Feliciano in his room, scurrying around, tossing clothes. I leaned on the doorway and watched until I cleared my throat for him to notice me with a yelp.
"Alright," I started, "Where the hell are you going all dressed up?"
He started kicking away the mess of piles, "Oh, no where! I was just cleaning out old stuff. You should try it some time. Very relaxing,"
"Uh huh," I fold my arms, not believing him.
"Anyways," Feliciano walked over and forced a grin, "I'm going to take a shower, so if you don't mind,"
And with that, he closed the door on me. Feliciano really was a terrible liar.
I then noticed Gilbert coming upstairs and I quickly followed him, "Hey, old man,"
The German sighed and unamused, glared at me, "How many times have I told you that I am albino and that's why my hair's gray. I'm about your age! Maybe a little older..."
"Whatever," I shrugged and whispered, "Do you know where Feliciano is going tonight?"
"You really think I'm gonna snitch?" Gilbert scoffed, "What do you take me for? A traitor?"
"I'll give you my next paycheck,"
"He's going on a date with a guy named Ludwig," he said without hesitation.
"Fuck!" I whispered-yelled, "I totally forgot about that. I should have known,"
"Yeah, you two had a whole fight about it, remember? You punched him and made him bleed,"
"Shut up," I paced around, thinking about the situation. I knew Feliciano had feelings about a human. I didn't think he would act upon those feelings. Feliciano trusted him too much. It is only a matter of time that the human will hurt Feliciano.
"Anyways, you can just slide your paycheck under my door, Okay bud?"
"Hold on," I grabbed onto Gilbert's shirt and signaled him to be quiet as I saw Feliciano leave his room, wearing a nice dress shirt and pants and grabbing his phone and headed downstairs quickly. I turned back to Gilbert, "We're following him,"
"Woah! That's too far, Lovino!" Gilbert argued, "We can't sabotage Feliciano's date!"
"We're not sabotaging it. We're monitoring it,"
"Look," He got serious, "I understand that this situation is terrifying for you but Feliciano seems to be happy and he's a smart guy. I mean, I'm dating a guy right now, he's also human,"
"You're what?!"
"Shh, it's not about me right now," Gilbert silenced me, "And as of this moment, things are going awesomely!"
"But does he know you're a ghoul?"
"Ah, well, no..."
"That's exactly why it's going so 'awesomely'. You and Feliciano are hiding behind a fantasy. Feliciano is someone who believes there's good in everybody and I know he'll be naive enough to tell his date about who he is and that will only end up terribly,"
I paused, thinking of how foolish Feliciano can be. At one hand, he could be rejected and he'll learn to stay away from humans. But then his identity is known and what comes next will be a witch-hunt and destroy everything we tried to build for our survival. And maybe, just a slim chance, the other won't mind and accept him. But even those unions end in tragedies. Like my mother and father. There's no happy ending for a ghoul.
"I don't want to have to interfere. But I just want to make sure he'll be fine," I muttered, "So many things can go wrong and if I'm not there to help, then I'll blame myself,"
Gilbert sighed and frowned, as if he was contemplating, and then shrugged, "Alright, but we are to do nothing to interfere unless absolutely necessary, ok?"
Hesitant, I agreed.
________________________________
- Feliciano's POV -
"Hi, Ludwig! I'm sorry I'm late," I said as I caught up to him outside of a restaurant, "I had to work and didn't got off until an hour ago,"
Ludwig slightly smiled when he saw me approach, "It's fine. I just don't see why I couldn't pick you up like I suggested,"
I chuckled nervously, "I didn't want to bother you. I appreciate that you're taking me out in the first place,"
The truth was that I didn't want Elizabetha or Roderich to see him and then be suspicious to if they saw me leave with him so I made him wait for me there. I felt uncomfortable lying so much to Ludwig, but it is the only way.
"Nonsense. You're not a bother, Feliciano. I'm glad you're here,"
I felt a warmth hearing that from Ludwig. Seeing a softer, more relaxed side of him made me happy for him. I knew about his past and when I first met him, he was so closed off and reserved and kinda scary and threatening when acknowledging the fact that he hunts ghouls for a living. But there is so much to him that makes me believe it is worth it to risk to trust in him.
_________________________________
- Lovino's POV -
"Literally the worst possible place to take a ghoul out is a restaurant but honestly what did I expect," I whispered as Gilbert and I watched from a distance Feliciano and Ludwig enter.
"Are we going to follow them in?"
"What? Of course not. I'm not about to waste money on food I can't eat,"
"Speaking of which, I'm kinda starving," Gilbert whined, "Elizabetha hasn't gotten anything to eat in a while and we have to ration out more since the two new kids came in"
"Do you really want to go out and kill someone to eat at this hour?"
Gilbert glanced away and frowned, I believe because of his odd situation in which he claimed that he used to be human before he amnesia. He couldn't dare to kill another human, "Maybe I'll wait,"
"I thought so," I glanced back at the restaurant, frustrated at the fact we can't watch them closely without looking suspicious, "If things go for the worse, we eat him,"
"Sure, why not," Gilbert shrugged. He crossed his arms and looked down, "Have you ever met him? I couldn't a good glimpse of him,"
"Who? Ludwig?"
"Yeah,"
"I saw him flirting with my brother the other day when Feliciano and I fought. He's tall, blonde slicked back hair, German, I think, he kinda looks like you but he's isn't good looking,"
"Hmm..." Gilbert thought quietly, which surprised me that he didn't get offended by the 'not good-looking' comment. He then quietly said, "I feel like I know him somehow... the name, Ludwig, sparks a memory. But... I don't know of what..."
"Well, whoever he is, he will not get away with being a danger to my brother..."
________________________________
- Feliciano's POV -
For something that looks like Elizabetha's cooking, the steak was absolutely revolting.
I went through the dinner, eating as little as possible and justifying it with talking a lot to Ludwig. But it was agonizing to chew meat that was not a human's while trying not to turn in disgust in front of Ludwig. I drank wine to wash it down everytime. As soon as we got the check, I excused myself to go to throw it up in the restroom. What a waste of the money Ludwig spent for me in the lovely restaurant.
I make a mental note to not let Ludwig choose where to eat.
When I felt better, I went outside to see Ludwig ready to go. I grabbed my coat, held his hand, and we headed outside.
"Well, since I took you out to dinner, you get to choose where we go next,"
Excited, I started thinking, and then started walking, leading him hand in hand.
"Oh, you're not gonna tell me?" He teased with a chuckle.
I looked back at him with a grin, "Now I'm not. It'll be a surprise!"
________________________________
After a couple of minutes, I guided him to the park where I always go to draw. It is mostly nature, with a path to walk and admire the entirety of it from a top the hill and of course, a playground for children. It was also the park that I found Gilbert.
We walked up the path to the hill, talking and listening to the crickets and looking at the night sky full of stars. We sat on a bench on top and we stared at the city around us.
"I never been here during the night. I mean, I haven't been here in a long time,"
"You used to come here?"
"When I was a child with my brother. I haven't gone here since he went missing..."
I leant my head against his shoulder, knowing the situation and I said, "My father used to take me and my brother here all the time too. After he passed, Lovino detested coming back here, saying it was crowded with annoying people. I just see it as a place to remind me to move on. Seeing all the nature and people pass by. It's really overwhelming, sometimes,"
I could hear Ludwig hum in agreement, "You know, you're the first person who I actually feel comfortable with. I've isolated myself since I lost my family..."
"Well, you have me now," I looked up at him and got closer.
"And I'm happy I do," he responded, which made me shiver, not sure of how happy I felt to hear him say that or how guilty I felt as well. He trusted me and I'm lying to him. I can't imagine how he would react if he knew the monster I was.
But did that really matter if I love him and he loves me? There would only be one way to find out.
___________________________________
- Lovino's POV -
it was harder to stay unnoticed when they got up to the hill, looking at their surroundings. We hid behind a tree, a few feet away from them. I could barely hear what they were saying, and I got nervous every time Feliciano would curl up closer to the human.
Gilbert peeked and to my surprise, he stared in silence at Ludwig, as if he was analyzing him closely. He said it triggered a memory of his life before being a ghoul but the more he saw Ludwig, the more he got confused.
I watched as Feliciano got closer and said, "Well, you have me now,"
The human smiled, responding, "And I'm happy I do,"
I could see Feliciano almost flinch, but he kept the eye contact they had and I heard him say, "Can I ask you something?"
Gilbert and I tensed up, thinking Feliciano is going to tell him.
"What if I'm not all that great? I... I never really loved someone because I've been scared..." Feliciano started, "But you, you make me feel safe and wanted. And I'm scared that one day you'll realize that I'm not what you expected and I-"
Feliciano didn't go any further, like he realized he was speaking to much. Ludwig simply lifted Feliciano's face up and told him, "I don't think there's anything that would not make me love you, Feliciano,"
With that, Feliciano stayed quiet and they kissed, never getting to Feliciano's actual revelation.
"I knew he was going to be a coward..." I muttered, half disappointed and half relieved. So much for saying that he trusted Ludwig, when this proved that he did not.
"Damn, who knew Luddy had a romantic charm," Gilbert commented. He then froze and blinked a couple times, "Luddy?... Where's that name from? I could have sworn I heard it before..."
"Can you stop yapping and get out of here before the two finish their make out session?" I growled and started to drag him away and down the path quickly.
He then pulled away and yelped with an excited grin at his revelation, "Beilschimdt! My last name is Beilschimdt!"
________________________________
A/N:
Aye, another update my dudes!
Senior year is kicking my ass but I'm kicking harder!!
I'll try to update more constantly, I promise. This was a treat to you all and myself for doing something I wanted to instead of work after work.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I appreciate all comments and votes and I'll see ya next update!!