Ludwig walked along the cobble-stone road towards his home. He fumbled with the brown paper grocery bags he held in both hands. He was afraid that the contents would fall out and land on the floor. He silently cursed the shop he had come from for not having made the upgrade to plastic bags.

This would have been much easier if these bags had handles. Is Heracles that poor? He thought to himself. He immediately regretted the cruel thought ever passing his mind.

Heracles shop, Karpusi's Greece, had many customers, despite it being a very small shop. His shop always had fresh fruit and vegetables, with fine cuts of meat (and no one had reported getting food poisoning or mad cow disease from his shop yet) and welcoming cashiers. It was also affordable for big families (which was good for him considering that he only lived with his brother Gilbert).

Heracles had finally realized his dreams after Hetalia School, and Ludwig was happy for him.

Now that he really thought about it, there was another reason for Heracles happiness and it wasn't because his dreams had been realized.

He understood that part of the reason for Heracles happiness was the person he was dating. Not just any person to be in fact, but his best friend Kiku. He and Kiku ran the store together and Ludwig was always happy to go back there to talk and find out what the other had been up to.

Ludwig smiled as he remembered Kiku's excited yet calm face as he explained that he and Heracles would be getting married soon.

"I want you to be there," The young Japanese boy had said that afternoon. "It won't be too big, but it will be big enough hopefully."

"What do you mean darling?" Heracles answered back. "It will be huge. A big fat Greek wedding!" He took hold of Kiku's hand. "Our big fat Greek wedding."

Kiku's face turned many shades of red. Ludwig just laughed.

"Alright," he had said. "I'll try and find a date. I'll invite all of the others too." Heracles waved as Ludwig said his goodbyes, a smile on his slender face.

Ludwig walked on, wondering where he was going to find a date for this thing. He hadn't dated anyone for some time now (most of the girls he'd dated were only after him for lust issues, thinking that he was experienced. When they found out that he was, in fact, a virgin, they dumped him on the spot).

He continued along the cobble-stone deep in thought as the cobble-stone walkway began to turn into Main Street. He began to wonder what would have happened if he'd stayed with Chibitalia. He hadn't had a choice in the matter, but he wondered if she was still waiting for him.

He felt himself blush of the thought of the young girl. Her chestnut brown hair (with the cutest curl, which she never let him touch for some reason), her light brown eyes (turned golden against the sun), her green dress that she wore when cleaning the house. He realized that he really wanted to see her again.

He'd asked Elizabeta repeatedly where he could find the girl again, but she only smirked and said, "The tomato fairy is right under your nose. Just ask it for some pasta!"

Since that didn't help him, he would go to ask Roderich, but he would only say go ask Elizabeta, then he would practice Beethoven's ninth symphony on the piano.

Their constant mind games always infuriated him. Why can't they just tell me? He thought angrily. What are they hiding from me?

The Germans thoughts were interrupted by a soft "Veeeeeeeeeee!" emitted from a nearby alleyway. He froze. The hell was that? He thought to himself. Then he heard it again.

"Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

It sounded as if the person emitting the sound was in trouble or in pain. From the high pitch tone of the voice he guessed it was a woman. But, if it was, what could have happened? Had she gotten raped? Was she about to be? Was she giving birth? Had she already?

A million things raced through the Germans mind as he ran towards the alleyway. He set the grocery bags on the ground and put his jacket over them (so that nothing would get into the food). Then he rounded the corner, all ready to save the woman, when he froze.

Because he had been right, someone was about to get raped, but it wasn't a woman at all. He looked in awe at the young Italian pinned against the wall by a bunch of thugs, struggling to break free of their grasp. He looked to be about 18-21 (the same age as himself). He had chestnut brown hair with a curl at the top. His eyes were brown but looked golden when he stared up at the sky. His face was white with fear and he could see that he was in quite some pain.

Ludwig, despite what was happening, stared at the young Italian with love struck eyes. He was the cutest thing he'd ever seen in his life. Huh? He thought suddenly. Where the hell did that come from? I'm here to rescue him, not ogle.

The young German sprang into action. He ran up and punched the first thug in the nose. The second one stood still, wondering where he had come from. That gave him just enough time to punch him as well.

Two down, three to go. He thought sternly. The other three all ran at him. His roundhouse kick knocked them all out in one go.

As they went down he began to brush off the dust from his pants, thinking that his job was done, when he heard that familiar sound.

"Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

He quickly turned around to see the last thug with the young Italian in a sleeper hold. He'd started putting his hand down the Italian's pants and he cried out with displeasure.

"Don't come any closer or he gets it!" He yelled as he pulled out a knife and held it next to hostage's neck. The young boy looked extremely frightened. Ludwig didn't like seeing him like that. He didn't want to do this, but he pulled out the only thing he had on him. The thug's eyes grew wide in fear.

"D-drop the gun!" he cried.

"Or what?" he retorted.

The thug held the Italian tighter. "I'll kill 'em!"

Ludwig started to walk toward him with his gun pointed at his face. "Do you really want to risk it? I am the best marksman in all of Germany."

The thug looked at the barrel and released the boy. The Italian ran forward, into the arms of Ludwig. Ludwig blushed a bit. The thug then turned to run. Ludwig decided to let him go cause there he was no threat to the young Italian anymore.

He looked down at the Italian. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. The boy looked up and Ludwig noticed that he'd been crying.

"Yes," he answered in a quiet voice. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Ludwig turned his head so the boy wouldn't notice that his face were different shades of red. Ludwig was about to ask the boy's name when he was interrupted by the thug.

"Never underestimate your opponents bitch!" he yelled as he pulled out a .22. "Prepare to die!"

Ludwig had no idea where he got the gun from, and he didn't care. All he knew was that he had to protect this boy.

"Duck!" he yelled. The boy obeyed the command, and they ducked right as the thug shot. The bullet whizzed past Ludwig's ear, but it didn't graze him. With the boy still in his arms, Ludwig aimed and shot. The bullet hit the thug in the leg, just where he'd intended for it to hit. The thug dropped to the floor, screaming in pain. Ludwig ignored him and pulled out his cell phone. He quickly called 911 and gave them the address before talking to the young boy, who looked very frightened.

"It's okay now," he said as he stroked the boy's hair. The boy seemed to relax a little. "I'm very sorry that this happened to you and I hope that those guys didn't go any farther with you. I know this isn't much of an offer but, would you like to come to my apartment to shower?"

The boy blinked at him in response. Ludwig suddenly realized what he'd just asked the boy to do.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed. He started to shake his hands wildly. "I didn't mean it like that, I just thought that you may want to wash their touch off of you and…" he realized that he'd just made it sound dirtier. "Oh God I should just shut up now. Sorry."

To his relief, the boy began to giggle. "Veee. That's okay. I understand. Thank you for the offer. I accept. I want to see the house that my savior lives in."

Ludwig ran a hand through his hair nervously. "It's not much," he mumbled. The boy only smiled. Ludwig stood up. "Come on, let's go."

"Don't we have to wait for the police though?" The boy pointed out. Ludwig deflated and sat back down.

"Ja, we do," he looked at the ground nervously, not sure of what to say. Then he brightened up, remembering that he hadn't asked the boy's name yet (something to talk about!) "Oh yeah! My name is Ludwig. What's yours?"

The boy smiled sweetly. "My name is Feliciano. Feliciano Vargas, but you can call me Feli!"

"Ok… Feli."

Feli smiled again. They continued their small talk until the police arrived.