"Oi, Feli!"

The Italian man blinked turning towards the source of the call. Finding the Prussian man waving at him from to stands over, his face broke out into a grin. He switched the fruit he held into one hand, intent on energetically returning the greeting.

"Ve! Hello, Gilly!"

The Prussian wormed his way through the throng of people at the outdoor market- he would never understand how such a place managed to stay standing- to stand next to the smaller man. He gave a smile, putting as much good nature into his demeanor as he could physically muster. It was a longstanding fact that the Italian responded well to an open and friendly face, even if that face had some odd requests.

"Hey, ya wanna come with me?" would be among the out-of-the-blue type requests.

Gilbert tugged on the sleeve of Feliciano's jacket, his lighthearted attempt at pulling quickly becoming a struggle to get the man to move at all. Feli just watched in confusion, his brows knitting together in an almost foreign expression, as the man made no progress in making the other country budge. It was a habit the Italian picked up a while ago, after he started hanging around Ludwig, that he generally wouldn't be forced to move without Luddy's approval.

"Why?" Feliciano asked, blinking as he lowered the fruit back to the stand. He smiled at the man on the other side of the table, waving in a sort of apology for not purchasing anything.

"Cuz I told ya to!" he chirped. Trying a different tactic, he put his arm around the other's slender shoulders, pulling him into a sideways hug. "Specifically, because I was thinking of making a present for good ol' West, and you're the perfect man to help me out on that."

"Ooh ooh! Si! Present for Ludwig, present for Ludwig!" He nodded ecstatically, wrapping his arms around Gilbert's neck to hang in a blind drape-hug. Startled, Gilbert leg go as the other man just hung there, his grin wide enough to crack the kid's face in half as his head come just below Gilbert's chin.

And he though he was a scary person.

Chuckling out of a sudden feeling of awkwardness, Gilbert put his hands on Feliciano's shoulders to push the man on his own two feet again. "Ya gotta be a little more discreet, kid. It won't be much of a surprise present if West finds out about it."

"Oh, right. Okay!"

Now able to tow the Italian alongside him, Gilbert set out back down the street, smiling to himself as Feli hummed tunelessly.

It was surprisingly easier than he though, getting the Italian to follow him. He had tried the initial tactic just to see if it would work, but had prepared several more arguments to persuade the man to join him. It seemed he over-thought that portion of his plan; Feliciano proved more gullible than he had truly hoped. Perhaps the rest of the idea would go even smoother than he imagined, especially if he found out the proper words to press Feli into following him blindly.

Unfocused on his surroundings, Gilbert let slip a manic grin. This would be perfect. It was impossible to screw this up.

"Ve, you seem happy!"

"Oh, of course." Gilbert said, coming back to the present. He smiled at Feli as they turned another corner, his mansion within sight. "Why wouldn't I? I get to spend the day with a friend."

Feliciano beamed, pleased at the other's words. He often wondered, probably to the amazement of those people that he overheard speaking ill of him, why he seemed so much more needy and, to the best of his vocabulary, high-maintenance around Ludwig. With Gilbert, he needed only a simple assurance of his status so infrequently that it often slipped his mind to maintain his friendship with the Prussian. A pang of anxiety shot through him- did Ludwig mind that he needed to hear those words almost hourly? Surely if it bothered him, Ludwig would have told him, right? Then his behavior certainly couldn't be that atrocious. Right?

Oh dear.

Gilbert watched as Feli's exuberant mood quickly fell. He arched a brow, wondering at the thought pattern that could take the normally energetic man to this level of quiet pondering. He'd inquire about it later; maybe it'd be useful to his overarching goal.

It didn't take them much longer to get to the gate of Gilbert's mansion, and the Prussian was almost tripping over himself in his urgency to continue the rest of his plan. Imagining the sweet taste of it carried out to completion split his face into smile again. How lucky, he thought. The weather seems to share my mood.

He only hoped that the warm and gently breezy day would put the Italian to rest a bit. It might derail the rest of his day if the man didn't unwind.

Quickly fishing out a key to the front door- giant mansion and not a single person on staff, thanks West- he pulled the lumbering piece of wood open and ushered his guest inside, watching the man become distracted by his thoughts with the decorations of the foyer.

"Wow!" Feli exclaimed, lifting his head up to gaze at the ceiling a few dozen feet above their heads. "All the paintings, it's so warm!"

The man quickly swayed off to admire other pieces of the room, gaining speed and energy until he was practically back to the fast-paced behavior he had at the market. Gilbert heard him call out observations and questions, never giving an answer as the Italian never expected one, as he flitted about, poking at vases and cooing at artwork.

"Ve, Gilly. Do you have any food?"

"It's not anywhere near dinnertime yet. You're actually hungry?"

"Well," the man said, staring down at his feet as he toed the edge of the carpet with his shoe before smiling back up to Gilbert. "I was going to buy my midday snack before we came over here, but I think I completely forgot about it!"

Gilbert watched the man's vacant and pleased expression, somehow not upset that he had disturbed his daily rituals with food. "I'll be sure to… uh… make something… after we start on the present."

"Oh, right!" The Italian bounced on toes, bending forward to close some distance between the two in his excitement. "Present for Ludwig! Where do we go?"

Gilbert smiled at the others mood and nodded to follow him down the halls, smirking as the man practically bounced off the walls, spewing barely-coherent sentences about how happy Ludwig would be with the present.

Rolling his eyes at joke that flitted through his mind, he pointed to the chair in front of his desk as they entered his study. Following the order for once, the Italian sat down and crossed his legs, his mile blissful and tranquil. Gilbert wondered how Feliciano managed to be so easily amused and happy. He also wondered if those mood shifts could easily be broken to something colder.

"All right then," Gilbert started, waving his hand to the photo books on his desk. "Your job is to pick out a picture or two where both you and West look happy and friendly. We will then take those photos and put them on a shiny, sparkly poster board, and force Ludwig to keep it in his room. Does that sound like an awesome gift or what?"

"Si, si! But only a couple? There are plenty of pictures where Ludwig and I are happy!"

"I'm sure you're right," Gilbert said, forcing his voice to match the other's tone. "But this is a relatively small present. Only two will fit. Sorry."

"Oh. Right. Okay then."

Eliciano nodded and lurched forward in his seat to grab the albums, flipping through the pages with his tranquil and content smile. That smile quickly faltered with a sound of confusion. Putting that one down beside him on the floor- a quick note in his mind to check through it a bit more in depth- he looked in another, his confusion turning to dismay. He tried the third and fourth and still found no picture where Ludwig looked willing to be with him, let alone smiling and having fun. His lingering doubts from the walk over- if her were being truthful, those doubts lingered for a lot longer than the stroll- came back to the forefront of his mind. His mood felt instantly crushed; did Ludwig actually think him such a nuisance?

"Why is Ludwig so unhappy with me?" he asked. The question was so quiet that Gilbert hardly caught it. He mostly understood it by reading the man's lips, his focus the only way he knew the man spoke at all.

The Prussian half-smiled, his expression turning to something he hoped was akin to sympathy. He wanted the Italian to feel comforted. "That's because West can't feel crap. He wouldn't know the definition of friend if it stabbed him in the back."

Feli glanced up from where his gaze been dragged to his lap. "I'm not sure… Is that really how that expression goes…?"

Gilbert waved it off. "Does it matter? You're not feeling well. Do you want the dinner now?"

Feli paused, about to shake his head, before Gilbert interjected.

"I'll even make some pasta for ya, how about that?"

"I really… I really don't think I should bother you…"

"Nonsense!"

Feliciano jumped at Gilberts sudden noise and movement. The Prussian stood, the action causing his chair to scrape across the floor, as he slammed his hands down on the table. Now that I have you attention, he thought, somewhat surprised at his own bitterness. He didn't need the Italian to dwell on his self-pity or the anxiety that he was as big of an annoyance as everyone said he was.

"In fact, after dinner, I insist you stay the night! Partly to let you get your spirits up, and partly because I'm the only one in the mansion and it's really scary to be here alone. Ya know what I mean?"

Feli nodded, and Gilbert could hear the faintest of sniffles from the man as he tried not to cry.

"Wonderful! You're a great friend, you know? It's absolutely horrible to be the only one here for so long. Almost feels like a punishment."