He dazed me with the soft brush of his gaze and his humming which was a song to my ears. Even as he shouted, cried, and kicked; his voice was that of an angel’s. He was a gem among rocks; wand among sticks; butterfly among moths; but not all could see just how beautiful he was. His shouts were roars of a large cat and his grins were sunny summer days. When he held a paintbrush in his hand his mind raced with incredible stories and tales he could display on a canvas for all to see. How marvelous it was for a masterpiece to create art. His lips would tingle whenever he sat beside me in a meeting; planning his next move like life was a game. With stunningly sharp eyes he was able to make even the most manly and brave men bow to him. He had the body of a wildcat and the mind of a mastermind. He was the most dangerous man to ever walk this earth.
“Germany!” I heard Luciano call me from outside. Even though I have known Luciano for hundreds of years, he still refers to me by my business name: Germany. We had just finished training that day; Luciano making me run the track a ridiculous amount of times. I left the roof’s protection and was attacked by the sun’s rays. Why did Luciano have to make us train in the middle of a summer day?
“Yeah, what is it?” Luciano sat on a bench, hunched over and pulling at his shoestrings. It took me a second to realize he needed help, “Uh… Can you tie your shoelaces?”
Luciano glared in my direction. His stunningly beautiful eyes made shiver and nearly melt, “… My shoes are just broken…”
“They don’t look broken to me.” I knelt down in front of him, attempting to help but he slammed his foot on my face and tried to push me back. “L-Luci! That hurts, man!”
“I don’t need your stupid help, alright!? I just feel lazy today- yeah! Yeah, that’s it! I’m just lazy today and you’re my slave! Ha! Do my work, slave!” He giggled darkly as if he got great pleasure from having such a big guy as myself his slave.
I smiled and rolled my eyes, “Yes master, whatever you say~ But you have to do it with me, alright?” He blushed harder and leaned over, pulling the strings taunt on his other shoe. I grinned more as I continued, “You start by crisscrossing the strings, then make them taunt again. Make sure it’s tight so your shoes don’t slip off.” He followed my lead, having no trouble. “Now here is where it gets tricky, okay? Listen close. You make a bunny ear, then you loop the other string around the bunny ear and- then… then you pull the string through, and make bunny ears!”
Luciano stared at me with his famous bitch-are-you-stupid-face. “That’s too complicated. And you’re really bad at explaining!! These are shoelaces, not bunnies!!”
I laughed at Luciano’s comment, “It’s just an expression, Luci.” Luciano blushed shamefully and glanced away. I couldn’t help but stare at his beautiful eyes and round face. His face was a masterpiece; he had incredibly adorable and stunning looks. He had a soft, round face with plump lips and magenta eyes that complimented his tan skin and brunette hair.
I often had the urge to each out and gently touch him, but I knew he’d snap at me if I did. Luciano blushed harder and mumbled, “Stop staring, Jerkface…” ‘Jerkface’ had become his favorite insult for me. It was adorable. I loved it when he gave me little nicknames that he thought would hurt my feelings; but they never did.
On our way walking back to the car I still couldn’t keep my eyes off of Luciano. Whenever he glared at me from out of the corner of his eye I would smile and asked what was wrong.
“You keep smiling at me and it’s creepy!” Luciano huffed. I chuckled, finding his attitude adorable and hilarious. I reached over and bumped my hand against his; asking for permission. He blushed harder and suddenly held my hand.
I’m sure Luciano is aware of my feelings for him. I’ve never brought it up but I show obvious signs. I want to know if he feels the same way, but I’m scared he’ll reject me or be disgusted by me.
After explaining my situation to my brother he said, “You should just tell him… I-I mean… He’s not rejecting your physical affection, right?”
I sighed and ran a hand through my messy hair, “Yeah, I guess…” I rambled on, “But you never know what’s going on in his little head. He’s known me for so long, he probably just sees me as a friend. Oh god… I shouldn’t say anything; it’d just feel wrong…”
For once Gilen spoke demandingly, even if he did stutter a bit, “Siegfried! You are a Beilschmidt, and Beilschmidts aren’t cowards.” I raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t someone to make such exaggerated statements. “We are men of war and men of war don’t bow down to emotions!”
“Yeah, yeah! I get that, Gilen… But it’s just… ehh… I don’t want it to be awkward between us. I don’t want anything between us to change, but I want to get my feelings out…”
“Siegfried. Luciano is smarter than that, right? He knows making it awkward would be the worst thing to do. But that’s just if he rejects you. Don’t you want to know if he has feelings back?”
I groaned and flopped onto the couch, “Fiiiinnneee… I’ll do it tomorrow… Over text.”
“No, you’re doing it in person…”
The next day Luciano dragged me to the track per usual. It felt like he wouldn’t stop talking; or at least I was being extremely quiet today. “My brother is really dumb and I hate him… I wish he’d just shut up permanently. That would be cool… Siegfried? Siegfried, did you die last night or what?”
“Sorry~ I was listening to your sweet voice and I dozed off.” Luciano huffed and suddenly stopped walking. He simply stared down at my feet. I was wearing two different shoes; one a flip-flop and the other a tennis shoe. “Uhh… W-Wow, I must be really tired today, huh?”
“I don’t care if you’re tired; you’re still doing the routine. In fact, now you have to do it barefoot!” I honestly wasn’t really against being barefoot; I hated shoes because they felt like cages for my feet.
We started with our warm-up. More like my warm-up. Luciano only participated in running around the track. I’d do pushups and he’d lie on top of him, yelling something like: “Move it tubby!! I could’ve done one-hundred by now!!” He can barely do five pushups.
After the warm-up Luciano immanently took off onto the track in a gentle jog. I followed beside him, “Why don’t you ever you wait for me, Luci?”
“Germany, I don’t have time waiting for you. You’re slow and pathetic.” He stuck out his tongue at me and I smiled. He’s so fucking cute. I love it. After a couple runs around the track, I collapsed onto the bench in exhaustion. Luciano was still going strong, and he’d make fun of me every time he looped around the track. He eventually had his share and plopped down next to me, whining and reaching for the water bottle I was downing. “Give it t-to me!!” He panted and weakly punched the biceps on my arm.
“Here you go.” He grabbed the bottle and tilted his head back, downing it and spilling water onto himself. I watched Luciano, my thoughts going wild. Indirect kiss. Indirect kiss. Indirect kiss. I found myself unable to hold myself back, “Did we just indirectly kiss?”
Luciano didn’t respond, or he at least didn’t hear me.
“Indirect kiss…. We just indirectly kissed each other… I don’t mind. Doyoumind?BecauseIdon’treallymind…” I spoke quickly, feeling myself become hot and embarrassed. When Luciano didn’t answer I said a bit clearer, “You’re hot.” No response. “I’d get funky under the sheets with you.”
Luciano suddenly glared at me. My whole body stiffened and felt like it was going to fall apart. “I’m not a whore Siegfried. You’re supposed to ask me out on a date before that.”
“W-Wait a-are you s-saying-“ I stuttered badly.
Luciano splashed the remaining water onto my face, smirking. “If you must know, I think you’re too hot for your own good.”
“I-I like your f-face… I love your face… F-Face good. Ja.”
“Oh shush you silly German boy. I know you love me.” Luciano snuggled against my arm, “How about you ask me out on a date? Right now.”
“U-Uh…” Was he being serious? Luciano never really joked around but I couldn’t believe what I hearing. He was accepting my love and he was extremely calm about it. “… How about tomorrow night? I’ll pick you up and take you out for dinner.”
Luciano snuggled harder and accepted my request, “It’s a date.”