Before I get a lot of reviews telling me that Feliciano is OOC in this, I'm going to state one thing. I am aware. It's part of the story that he's written like this. He will turn to his usual self in time, just please enjoy the story and you'll see why he's written this way at first.

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Spring, 1939, A Small Italian Village

"You did what?" Roma Vargas demanded of his auburn-haired grandson. The dark-haired older man looked as if his eyes were going to pop out of his head. "Feliciano, please tell me you're considering it, that you didn't actually do it just yet!"

Feliciano Vargas shook his head, his auburn bangs falling into his face. "Grandpa, isn't it always you who was telling me that I could grow up to do anything I wanted, to be anything I wanted?" he asked. "So why are you suddenly so against what I want to do? It's not like I'm going to be hurting anybody who doesn't deserve it." He shrugged indifferently. "Besides, it's like I'll be doing something good for myself and for you. I'll be keeping everyone safe."

"That's not the point," Roma stated. "Feliciano, do you even understand what it means to join the military?"

"Of course I do," Feliciano grumbled under his breath. "I'll keep you and Lovi safe from all of the bad guys. Everything will be just fine, Grandpa! Don't worry about me! I'll be working for our fantastic country, and everything will be perfect!" He began to hum happily to himself. "I'll be like a hero, you'll see!"

"Feliciano, this is war!" Roma tried to explain to his happy-go-lucky grandson. "It's not like in the books you read! People die! People don't always come home! Don't you understand that?! You could die!"

"Isn't that just one small sacrifice for what is right?" Feliciano laughed. "Besides, I'll make it back. I always do!"

"Those are trips to the market! Those are always guaranteed trips home!" Roma barked, beginning to lose his temper.

"Not everything in life is guaranteed, Grandpa," Feliciano said, suddenly becoming serious. "It was Grandma who taught me that."

"Andriana, please talk to the boy," Roma said to his wife, gesturing to their grandson. "He is speaking nonsense. He does not seem to understand what is going on."

Andriana Vargas smiled at her grandson. "Feli," she softly said, smiling at him. "You have grown up so well, my sweet grandson. Why would you want to join the military, huh? And just how did you join the military?"

"The military is in desperate need of men, Grandma," Feliciano said. "I just lied a little about my age and they let me in."

Roma's eyes widened. "Feliciano, you are only fifteen years old!"

"They said I had to be eighteen, but I look old enough. I'm certainly tall enough, right?" Feliciano stretched his arms out. "I'll fill out the suit perfectly. Everything will be just fine."

Andriana began to cry softly as Roma stepped forward. "Look what you've done, Feliciano!" he barked at his now-fearful grandson. "You've made your poor grandmother cry! Is this what you wanted?"

Feliciano quickly shook his head. "N-No, Grandpa! I-"

"Just go to your room and think about what you've done!" Roma commanded.

The young Italian boy scurried up to his room, too scared of his grandfather to do anything else. He hadn't thought of this sort of outcome. All his life, he had been told to be brave and strong, yet now when it came time to prove himself, no one wanted him to. What kind of a world was this?

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Winter, 1939, Berlin, Germany

Feliciano shivered in his military uniform at his new post. He could hardly believe that he had made it this far in the military, but he guessed that they really needed the able men. His breath was coming out in small puffs of smoke, but he was too excited to care. There was nothing more exciting than feeling like an important person.

A tall man with slicked-back blonde hair and piercing blue eyes stood before Feliciano. "Guten tag," he said in a gruff voice.

"Buongiorno," Feliciano greeted back.

"Oh, you're Italian," the German man sighed in English. "Welcome to Berlin."

"Thank you," Feliciano said. He was truly fascinated by the man's features and could barely look away. "I am Major Feliciano Vargas."

"Pleasure to meet you," the man said with a nod. "I am Lieutenant Ludwig Beilschmidt."

Feliciano put his hand up in a salute to him as Ludwig did the same. "It is an honor to meet you, Lieutenant Beilschmidt." For a moment, he could've sworn he saw a smile cross Ludwig's face, but he wasn't completely sure. "I take it you are who I will be taking orders from during my time in Berlin?"

"That is correct," Ludwig stated. "I have been told that I am fair and a great leader. I led one of the battalions in Warsaw, Poland back in September."

Feliciano's eyes widened. "That's impressive! I'm glad to have you for a leader then."

Ludwig nodded. "Just don't let me down, Vargas."

The young Italian gulped. "I won't," he said, struggling to keep his voice from shaking. He was terrified of letting this magnificent man down.

Ever since Feliciano was young, he had known that he found men more desirable than women. His whole family knew that, but no one else did. Since the war started, Feliciano had to be more quiet about his preferences, hearing that people with his preference were taken away to other places. No one knew what happened to those people, but Feliciano never wanted to chance it, so he kept quiet. But he wondered how he could ever keep quiet about a beautiful man like Ludwig. Even at that moment, he was biting his lips to keep silent.

"Is something wrong, Major Vargas?" Ludwig asked him, eyeing him carefully.

"Nothing, sir," Feliciano quickly said, standing at attention. "You have my full attention." Wasn't that just the truth? "Do you have anything you would like me to do, Lieutenant?"

Ludwig eyed him curiously. "Nothing for now," he simply stated. "At ease, Major."

Feliciano relaxed. "Right," he softly said. He needed to relax. It wasn't good to be so tense around this man. There was so much tension already that being tense around his Lieutenant would just make things worse.

The Lieutenant watched the young Major for a moment, unsure of how to react to him. "Uh, why don't you go check in with your troops or something?" he suggested, trying to get him to go away without being too obvious.

"R-Right," Feliciano stammered. "I should probably go and do that!" He quickly took off to follow the command, eager to please his commander.

Ludwig watched as Feliciano ran off, wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

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Feliciano cheerfully hummed to himself as he prepared for bed that night. He finally felt like an important part of the military and wanted to make the best of his time in Berlin. After all, he really wanted to impress that Lieutenant of his. His mind was filled with that beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed German. Nothing else really seemed to matter to him at that time.

He thought back to how different his life had become in the past eight months. He had gone from living with his grandparents and brother in Italy to ranking up to a Major in the military! Even Feliciano was impressed with himself. Not too many people could make that much progress in such a short amount of time, but somehow he had done it, though he never quite understood how he had. Feliciano always lived a free sort of life, never really noticing militaristic things until the day that he joined the military to fight in the war.

His older brother Lovino had no interest in ever joining the military or helping out his country in a war, so he didn't understand Feliciano's drive and motivation to try to bring the world back to its old peaceful state. Even if he did understand, it wasn't like Lovino would ever do anything important like that. As much as Feliciano loved his brother, he knew that Lovino was extremely selfish. He never wanted to do anything unless it would benefit him.

Feliciano took a deep breath before going to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He was nervous about possibly running into Ludwig in the bathroom. After all, it was a public bathroom. He took a deep breath and left the bunks to go to the bathroom.

Ludwig was brushing his teeth when Feliciano walked in there. That caused Feliciano's heart to speed up. He suddenly felt nervous and insecure. No man had ever made him feel this way! It was madness to him. What did he do to deserve the torture of an attractive military leader? It just wasn't right in his book. Not by any means.

"Ciao, commander," he greeted as he walked to the sink next to Ludwig's. He got out his hygiene supplies and put toothpaste on his toothbrush. "How was your day?"

"Lieutenant," Ludwig corrected, staring down Feliciano, toothbrush in hand. "I am a lieutenant, Major Vargas."

Feliciano looked down at his toothbrush. "Right," he mumbled. "Sorry about that, Lieutenant." He secretly wondered if all Germans were this touchy. He sighed. "What is on the agenda tomorrow?" he asked, looking back over at Ludwig, who had gone back to staring into the mirror as he brushed his teeth. "Are we going to train again?"

Ludwig let out a sigh. "We train daily, Major Vargas," he stated, a hint of annoyance in his tone. "Don't you know anything about how the military works? How the hell did you manage to become a Major in the first place?"

"I worked hard for it," Feliciano quietly answered. He began to scrub the toothbrush against his teeth, frustrated. What gave Ludwig the right to be so cruel? Yet why did he enjoy talking to him like this? Why was Ludwig's cruelty making him even more attractive in Feliciano's eyes. This wasn't right at all.

"I see," Ludwig mumbled. He spit in the sink and rinsed off his toothbrush. "Then I guess the Italian military is more relaxed than ours."

Feliciano felt offended, but didn't say a word back. Why was Ludwig being like this? Had he misjudged his character? "Tell me, Lieutenant, what joy do you find in talking down to others?" That was all he wanted to know. Where did this man find joy in belittling everyone? It seemed pretty sadistic to Feliciano.

The entire bathroom went quiet. None of the other soldiers had ever heard anyone speak to their Lieutenant like that, especially not a foreigner. No one knew what to do or say, especially when they saw how angry Ludwig looked.

"What was that, Major Vargas?" he growled at him.

It was at that moment Feliciano knew he had messed up. "I-I just don't understand why you're being mean to me when I did nothing to you," he answered, trying not to let his voice shake. It was too late for that, though. He could feel his knees shaking. Feliciano knew he had gone too far.

"Major Vargas, go out and run laps around the building until I tell you to stop," Ludwig told him, fixing him with a hard glare. "It will teach you not to disrespect me."

"But I never once-"

"Go!" Ludwig shouted at him, pointing to the door of the bathroom.

Feliciano, frightened by the man's outburst, quickly left the bathroom to do as told.

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Feliciano felt as if his lungs were going to burst before the endorphins kicked in. He didn't understand why he would have to run so much just for asking a simple question. Then again, he didn't understand these German men at all. Was this like a game to them or something? All of those Germans were sadists, he was sure of it. His reasoning behind that was because all of Ludwig's troops were watching Feliciano run, whether it was through a window or actually standing outside and watching. Feliciano had never felt more humiliated in his life, but he kept running, determined not to give up. He had worked too hard for his and wasn't about to let it all waste away just because of one man. One very handsome man.

"Major Vargas!" Ludwig called out to him. "That is enough! You may come back inside and sleep!"

Feliciano slowed to a stop to catch his breath. He felt sick, but knew that if he vomited it would just mean that Ludwig won. He would not admit defeat so easily. Let Ludwig try to break his spirit. It wasn't going to work. Deep down, Feliciano was a fighter and only wanted what was right for himself and his country. And there was no way he would ever let anyone change that.

Ludwig gave him an impressed look once he walked back to the building. "Major Vargas, you run terribly slow, but you never stopped running," he said. "Well done. You deserve some rest. But just so we're clear, if you speak that way to me again, the consequences will be much worse. Do you understand?"

Feliciano nodded, clutching his stomach. He managed to stand up straight and look the other man in the eyes. "Understood, Lieutenant," he responded before going back to the barracks.

As he laid in his bunk, eyes shut, all he could think about was how Ludwig's blue eyes had been on him all night. Sure, he didn't like being in trouble with him, but being in trouble had gotten the man's attention, and that was enough for him at that moment.

Before he drifted off to sleep, his last thought of the night was how he wished he could get Ludwig's attention like that without being in trouble.

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Feliciano's legs were killing him the next morning. He didn't know if he would even be able to get out of bed. The pain in his legs was so bad that he could barely move them. Why did he have to question Ludwig the night before? Now he was certain he wouldn't be able to walk today.

He struggled to rise to his feet. His knees shook and trembled under his weight, which wasn't even that much. He was a rather small man, but he honestly didn't know how much he weighed until standing up that morning. He knew he would never again question anything regarding Ludwig.

He managed to get out on the field in time for morning training, though he had no idea how. It must've been a God-given miracle. All he was hoping was that Ludwig wouldn't make him run again. That would be the worst!

"I assume you're not feeling well today?" Ludwig asked him, blue eyes inspecting his every step. "Your legs hurt, Major Vargas?"

Feliciano knew Ludwig was taunting him, but he wouldn't let the German man win. He stayed silent and faced forward to command his own troops.

"Major Vargas, I asked you a question," Ludwig reminded, standing in front of Feliciano.

"I am aware," Feliciano told him, nodding to him. "But I am choosing not to answer."

Ludwig narrowed his eyes. "Well played, Major Vargas."

Feliciano honestly felt extremely terrified as he stood there next to Ludwig. He knew that if Ludwig found anything wrong with anything he did, it would be back to running, or maybe even something worse. He began to sweat nervously. If he didn't follow direction perfectly, things could end badly. After all, he had a strong feeling that Ludwig didn't like him at all. He had those suspicions because of the eerie silence that hung between the two of them. It was almost tangible and extremely uncomfortable for Feliciano.

"I am impressed," Ludwig suddenly commented. "You are still managing to walk after last night."

Feliciano looked Ludwig in the eye. "I guess I'm just tougher than I seem," he simply stated. It took every ounce of courage inside of him to say that one sentence. He felt he would probably die before saying anything more.

"You are the only subordinate of mine who will look me in the eye," Ludwig commented. "Why is that, Major Vargas?"

"Eye contact is the key to conversation, Lieutenant," Feliciano told him, maintaining eye contact. He knew there was no way he could avert his eyes after that, no matter how badly he truly wanted to. The most he could do was keep himself from trembling. "That is what my grandfather taught me."

Ludwig's eyes narrowed. "Your grandfather is a smart man."

"He is," Feliciano agreed with a nod. He really hoped he didn't have to hold eye contact much longer. No matter how dazzling Ludwig's eyes were to him, this was too much pressure. He felt as if he would crack and crumble to tiny pieces if Ludwig were to look him in the eye any longer.

The German man looked away and toward their troops. "Listen up!" he shouted out. "Major Vargas will be leading the marches today!"

Feliciano wanted to die. Just what he needed, more walking. How could Ludwig be so cruel?

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After doing drills for the day, Feliciano finally sat in the mess hall. His legs felt heavy as lead, but he had managed to lead the marches properly and bite the bullet through the pain. Oh, how he wanted to slug Ludwig for making him do that, but he knew he would have to refrain if he wanted his legs to feel better.

He glanced around at all of the unfamiliar faces in the cafeteria. So many people he didn't know. So many people he would probably never know. It almost made him sad to think of how many of these men would die in this war. He tried not to think about that as he focused back on his food.

His eyes then glanced back up as Ludwig sat down at the table next to his. He hoped Ludwig wouldn't say a word to him. After all, he was in enough pain without having to feel the tension of talking to Ludwig. If things were to get tense, Feliciano knew that he wouldn't be able to eat a single bite, and to him, that was the worst thing that could possibly happen.

Feliciano's heart began to pound when he saw that Ludwig noticed him. He took a deep breath as the Lieutenant got up and carried his tray over to sit across from him. His lungs felt as if they would collapse in on themselves as the perfect German seated himself across from Feliciano. He felt a knot forming in his stomach.

"Good afternoon, Major Vargas," Ludwig greeted, locking eyes with Feliciano.

The young Italian major knew he couldn't look away. "Afternoon, Lieutenant Beilschmidt," he said back, trying to keep his voice from shaking. He really hoped that Ludwig didn't want to hold too long of a conversation. All he truly wanted was to enjoy his food, and he definitely couldn't do that with Ludwig making firm eye contact with him.

"I just wanted to say that you did a nice job leading marches today," he said. "I understand that your legs are sore from running last night, but you still did it anyway. You have gained some of my personal respect today. I thought you should know that."

Feliciano didn't know what to think. "Thank you, Lieutenant," he said quietly.

"Major Vargas, call me Ludwig when it's us speaking as friends," Ludwig told him.

"Only if you call me Feliciano," he responded.

"You have yourself a deal."