Summary: All Ludwig wants to do is take Feliciano on a picnic date. Too bad everyone else keeps it from happening.Â
Ludwig checked his calendar. Then he checked what he had written for todayâs schedule. Then he checked the weather for the forecast. Then he checked his phone, to make sure that he had a confirmation for todayâs plans. Then he rechecked his calendarâŠ
âWest, calm the fuck down.â Gilbert spoke up, passing by where Ludwig was frantically running around his office. He paused for a moment, eyebrow raised as he sipped on his beer and watched the way Ludwigâs face turn red.
Ludwig looked up, glaring at his brother. âIâm just making sure everything is perfect.â
Gilbert rolled his eyes. âIt will be. And even if itâs not, I seriously doubt Italy will care.â
Ludwig didnât reply. Too busy making sure that everything was perfect for their picnic date tonight. Although, he was sure that Gilbert was right, that Feliciano would like their date either way. Actually, the date could be the worse thing in the world and he was sure Feliciano would love it. He was just that type of guy.
...It could be kind of annoying, really, when Ludwig was trying to plan dates.
Ludwig let out a sigh. He took a deep breath in. Let it out slowly. It would be fine. It would be fine. He just had to repeat that. Maybe if he said it enough, it would be true.
His phone rang.
It will be fine. It will be fine. Ludwig thought, picking up his phone.
âHello, Germany? Itâs your Boss.â
It will be fine. It will be fine. ItwillbefineItwillbefine-
âIâm sorry to call on your day off, you know I wouldnât if this wasnât important, but I have this trade agreement that needs your approval, immediately. And some papers that need your signature. And if you could come to this lunch weâre having with Russia, thatâd be great-â
Gilbert took one look at Ludwigâs blank face and laughed. âBoss got you again, West?â
Ludwig let out another sigh, this one more resigned, putting his hand over the speaker part as his Boss kept listing off the stuff he needed Ludwig to do. âYeah. Could you do me a favor and text Feliciano? I probably,â He paused a moment to listen as his Boss kept going. He sighed again. âWonât make it.â
âSure thing.â Gilbert chuckled again, leaving Ludwig to his duties. âGood luck.â
                           ~
Ludwig had double checked with his Boss. No phone calls. No last minute appointments. His schedule had been cleared and he was free.
Still, Ludwig couldnât help but feel anxious as he browsed the cheese selection of a local store. Lifting up two different brands of cheese, he looked over each of them carefully. Which one would Feliciano like? If he picked the wrong kind, Feliciano wouldnât hesitate to tell him what was wrong with the cheese and which brand was the best and how could Ludwig think that this cheese was good-
Feeling something sticky in his hand, Ludwig looked down and grimaced. He had accidentally squeezed one of the packages a little too hard, squishing cheese out of the wrapper.
Maybe he was thinking too hard about this?
His cell phone rang. Without thinking about it (because he knew, he knew, it wasnât his boss. There was no way that Boss would call on his day off for the second time). âHello?â
âGermany? Germany?â A panicked voice screeched.
Ludwig frowned. âFrance? What is it now?â
âYou must come to my house, Germany. Please, hurry. Itâs just terrible, I cannot believe that this is happening. You must come, you must.â
âFrance? France! Come down, speak slowly.â Noticing the looks he was getting, Ludwig quickly moved himself to a secluded corner. âDid you take a few breaths?â
He could hear France trying to calm himself down for a minute. âYes, yes. Iâm calm now.â
âGood. Tell me whatâs going on.â
Unfortunately, that just set France off again. âQuel desastre! Germany you will not believe it. Here I was, enjoying my lunch and watching the sights-they were such beautiful sights too, both the exquisite architect and the alluring people, I swear I host such gorgeous people on the planet-anyway, I was just sitting there and eating my lunch when who should come to ruin it? Why that bastard, England!â
Ludwig hummed. So at least it wasnât an international emergency. Just another silly fight between England and France. Â
âSo here comes England with that damn smug smirk on his face and I knew it was coming. I knew it. Do you know what he says? âOh, France, I know youâre so much more handsome and better than me but I want to let you know-â Ok so he didnât actually say that, but you know he was thinking it-â
âThe point, France.â Germany reminded him as he checked his watch. If he could just get France to hurry up with this, he should still have enough time to pick the best cheese before meeting with Feliciano so they could go on their date.
âAh, right.â France chuckled a bit nervously. Then he paused. âEveryone agrees England is the worst cook, right?â
âI suppose.â Germany agreed. But what did that have to do with anything?
âSo you can understand why I would be offended when England commented about how my lunch looked? He even tried a bit before spitting it out and declaring the worst thing heâs ever tasted!â France let out a snort. Â
âSounds like England.â
âGreat. Then you can agree it was necessary for me to spend all of my money trying to prove him wrong, right?â
âI gue-wait. WHAT?â Ludwig shouted, startling a couple of nearby civilians.
Face hot, he quickly apologized before returning to his phone. âFrance, please tell me that you didnât spend all your money.â Well fuck. This might be an international emergency.
There was dead silence on the other line.
âFrance!â Germany heaved a heavy sigh. âHow-How can you even spend that much? On food?â
âFrench food is a luxury. Therefore itâs expensive.â France replied back, a little aggressively. âBesides, it wasnât just on food.There were also some cooking classes.â A pause. âAnd wine. Lots of wine.â
âHow much is lots?â
France hummed. âAbout enough to get England drunk.â
Germany pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed to calm down because already he could feel his blood pressure rising. Take a deep breath. Count to ten. Let it out slowly. Repeat.
France, possibly nervous of Germanyâs silence, continued to babble. âItâs just that. I knew that England would never admit that my food was far superior to his if he didnât have something to loosen his tongue. But I didnât want to take him to a bar. I would never do something so uncouth. So I took him to a vineyard. Perfect view, perfect grapes, perfect wine. England being England, of course, he just wouldnât. Well, he wouldn'tâ stop drinking. And I couldnât possibly allow England of all people to outdrink me. And well. Here I am.â
âHere you are.â Germany repeated, voice completely void of emotion.
Germany could hear shuffling on the other end. Finally, in a small voice, France asked. âSo, what should I do?â
Take a deep breath. Count to ten. Let it out slowly. Repeat. Then he straightened his shoulders. Leaving his basket behind, Ludwig started making his way towards the exit. âStart calling everyone. We need an emergency meeting. Hopefully, we can nip this in the butt before it becomes something huge. Iâll book the conference building and the surrounding hotels, usual places we go to. The actual meeting will have to be in a couple of days so we can get everyone here.â
âOui, Oui, of course. But uh, England-â
Germany could imagine what England looked like-drunk off his ass and regretting his entire life as he was crumpled in on himself, hiding under his covers. The image settled Germany a bit. At least England was suffering for this. âYou make England help you. And he is to be forefront in the meeting.â
âOf course.â
As soon as France hung up, Ludwig made another call. Looks like he was going to have to cancel another date.
                              ~
There wasnât a cloud in the sky. A light breeze rustled the grass. The sun was shining. The park was one of his larger ones. Scattered throughout were humans playing, walking their pets, and chatting.
Ludwig took a deep breath, letting his lungs fill with the clean air. He needed this.
After making sure that his Boss wouldnât interrupt him, and making it absolutely clear to the other Nations that he would not be happy if anything came up, Ludwig felt that today was the day. He was finally going to get that picnic date with Feliciano.
Leaning back onto the bench, Ludwig closed his eyes and waited. The picnic basket, filled with fresh food, sat beside him on top of a blanket. Feliciano was supposed to bring the wine and himself. Actually, he should have been here with both by now. But Ludwig shrugged that off. Feliciano was always late.
In the meantime, he people watched. When he got bored of that, he stood up to stretched. Walked around for a bit. Went to take a look at the lake nearby. Then he sat back down and people watched some more.
...Where was Feliciano? Ludwig checked his watch. The Italian was about two hours late. Ludwig was worried; it wasnât like Feliciano to be this late. Stomach churning at the thought that something had happened, Ludwig reached for his phone. Then he remembered. He left it home, as an assurance that no one could interrupt him. Â
Biting his lip, Ludwig debated what he should do. Should he go home, call Feliciano? Ask someone passing by to use their phone? But what if Feliciano was on his way here? What if he was walking here now and Ludwig leaves and then leaves Feliciano all alone? Feliciano wouldnât be able to handle that.
He should wait. Yeah. Give Feliciano a few more minutes and if he didnât show up, Ludwig will go back home and call Feliciano from there.
A few minutes turned into half an hour turned into an hour and a half.
Ludwig could see he was scaring people, with the way he was looking straightforward, unblinking, and with a scowl on his face. His fist was clenched, resting against his legs. The food must have gone bad by now. He thought. Then, much more resigned, he added. And Italy is not coming.
Closing his eyes, he let his shoulders slump. Not much to do now but pack everything up and go home. He hoped nothing bad happened- Â Â
âLudwig! There you are!â
Ludwigâs head snapped up at his name. The voice was not the person he was expecting.
Running down the walkway was Gilbert, Gilbird flying close behind. Stopping in front of Ludwig, he took a minute to collect himself. âFuck, youâre tough to find.â
Cocking his head in confusion, Ludwig asked. âGil, what are you doing here? Is something wrong? Did Boss call?â
âGive me a second will you.â Gilbert huffed out. âThe awesome me may be in great shape but Iâve been running for awhile.â
âWhy?â
âBecause your unawesome self decided to be stupid today and left your phone home.â Gilbert gave him a look before straightening up. âItaly called, saying he couldnât get ahold of you and so I, being awesome, decided to take it upon myself to come find you.â
Ludwig ignored all of that to focus on what was important. âItaly? Whyâd he call?â
Gibert pouted at being ignored but continued anyway. âHe said that his brother came by. Apparently, he got into a fight with Spain and came crying to Italy.â
âThatâs not unusual. Romano gets into fights with Spain a lot. Actually, I donât think Spain even realizes that theyâre in fights most of the time.â
âYeah well apparently, this was pretty big. Big enough that Italy called to cancel your date.â
So big then.
Ludwig sighed. âWhat a waste of a day.â
Gilbert nudged him. âItâs your own fault, leaving your phone at home like that.â
âIt sounded like a smart idea at the time.â
                               ~
The office was silent except for the sound of a pen scratching against the paper. Ludwig liked the silence. The peace. Itâs what he needed to get work done.
The sun had set a few hours ago and still, Ludwig worked. He didnât mind so much. He understood that these things needed to get done and he was happy to do them. Everything to better his people, right?
Sighing, he looked over the paper he had just finished signing. Everything seemed to be in order for his Boss to began implementing some new ideas. Of course, he would need to sign a lot more paperwork for new rules to go into place, but Ludwig thought that they were needed. Looking over at the stack of paperwork he had, he just wished that his Boss wouldnât suddenly dump all the paperwork on him at once.
Eh, nothing can be done about it now except to keep working and get it over with.
With that, Ludwig picked up his pen and set back to work.
Only to immediately be interrupted by someone slamming his door open and shouting his name.
Ludwig jumped back, chair scratching against the floor. His hand shot towards the gun hidden underneath his desk. His fingers wrapped around the handle before his brain caught up and he recognized the person.
âFeli? What is the meaning of this?â He shouted back, face turning red as he released his grip on the gun. While he knew that he couldnât actually kill the other Nation, the thought of hurting him still bothered Ludwig.
Feli blinked at him, smile fading as he began to nervously twitch. âOh. Is this a bad time?â
âNo, no.â Ludwig reassured him. âYou startled me is all.â
âOk, good!â Striding forward, Feli reached for Ludwigâs hand and started to pull on his arm. âCome with me, I have a surprise!â
Ludwig frowned but let himself be pulled along. Heâs learned by now that itâs best to just get it over with and let Feliciano show him what he wanted. âIs it important? I have a lot of work to do.â
âVe~ Yes, yes. You have to see.â Feli looked back to smile at him. The Italian man led Ludwig out of the house, and towards the back. Ludwig followed with a confused frown.
âWhat kind of important are we talking about? Your kind of important or my kind of important? Because I really do have a lot of work to get to and-â Ludwig stopped talking at the sight before him. Â
Gilbert stood there, smirking at him. The yard was lit up with candles. A blanket was set out with a basket and two wine glasses.
Ludwig was left gaping as Feli eagerly pulled him forward. âWh-how?â
ââI felt bad that our dates kept getting interrupted.â Feli began. âSo I decided to surprise you at a time when I knew you were already busy. That way, we won't be interrupted by others."
He blinked. "That's pretty thoughtful actually." Ludwig said.âBut you shouldnât feel bad about our dates being canceled. Most of them were my fault.â
âGeez West, just let the guy surprise you with a date.â Gilbert told him, passing by to pat him on the shoulder. He gave Feliciano a wink. âYou need a rest every now and then anyway.â
Feliciano nodded his head. âYou work so hard! Itâs ok to take a break.â
Ludwig could feel his face heating up. Silently, he nodded and followed Feli to the blanket. The food smelled delicious and when Ludwig took a sip of the wine, it was perfect. Of course, Feli would have the picked the best food. The stars were shining brightly above them. It was a warm night. Already, Ludwig could feel himself relaxing as he sat down and breathed everything in.
âThank you.â He meant it. Sometimes, he forgot that he needed to do this. Take time off and just enjoy stuff. Not everything needs a plan. Even he could be spontaneous at times.
Feli gave him a small smile, soft and loving. âYouâre welcome.â Then he was back to the bright and bubbly smile. âShall we eat then?â
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