3:27

The red glow of the numbers on the clock was the only thing akin to light in the small room.

A trembling young boy stood over his sleeping counterpart, tears falling freely from his half-lidded eyes. He gently tugged on the blankets that covered his brother in attempt to wake him.

The elder of the two pulled himself into a sitting position, no longer asleep. "What the fuck are you doing, Feliciano?" He yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Go back to bed."

Feliciano brought a shivering hand up to his mouth, positioning the tip of his thumb against his lips.

With a sigh, his brother moved over and pulled back the quilt for the younger to join him.

Without another sound, Feliciano climbed into bed and cuddled as close to his brother as possible, his thumb slipping past his lips.

The elder scoffed in response. "You're too old to be sucking your thumb." He pulled the blankets over himself and his brother, settling down to sleep.

Feliciano, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. He just clung to Lovino desperately. Eventually, after about an hour of crying, he finally drifted off.

The next day was one that neither of the Vargas brothers were looking forward to. That day, they were moving. Again. They'd been moved around from care home to care home since they were seven years old. Feliciano hadn't spoken a word since that day. Lovino, on the other hand, never hesitated to voice his opinion on the fact that they could never just be in one place, or anything for that matter.

It was partially Lovino's fault that they had to move so much. There were very few care workers who could handle the eldest Vargas, and the ones who could soon ran out of patience. They'd never been in one home for longer than three years.

Pretty much every home they had been in would have been happy to have kept Feliciano. He was quiet, helpful and well behaved, but he didn't want to be anywhere without his brother, and it was awfully cruel to separate them. Not that social services hadn't tried. It was thought that if the twins spent time apart, Lovino may calm down a little, and Feliciano may become more independent. Of course, Lovino wasted no time in telling those at the meeting that they were all a bunch of stupid bastards, and if they ever tried to separate them, they'd regret it. So, that plan went out the window.

Within two hours of getting up the next morning, the boys were in the back of their social worker's black car, driving to their new home.

"I'm sure you're going to love your new home!" chirped Anna, their social worker.

Lovino raised an eyebrow. "Are you taking us back to Nonno?" he asked. He felt Feliciano's grip on his hand tighten.

Anna sighed. "Lovino, we've been through this. You know why we can't do that..."

The eldest Vargas just scoffed and stared out of the window. "We'll hate it, then." he retorted.

The rest of the ride was silent, save for the car's engine and the quiet sounds of Feliciano sucking on his thumb.

"Here we are." beamed Anna, pulling into the driveway of yet another care home.

The sign read "Apple Tree House." Lovino didn't care.

The building was painted a nice pale green with red windowsills. Lovino didn't care.

All sorts of different plants lined the walls, each with nametags of the children that resided in the house. Lovino didn't care.

The entire place seemed welcoming. Lovino still didn't care.

Lovino glanced around the place as he was guided inside and he had to admit, it looked nice... 'but it isn't Nonno's house...'

"Hello~" cheered their new head care worker, an overly cheerful dark-haired woman in her late thirties. "You must be Lovino and Feliciano. Please call me Jenny!" she introduced, that sickly smile never leaving her face. "Right, let's go and meet the other kids, shall we?"

Jenny led the way into the large common room, where the children who resided at the house were gathered. "Everyone," Jenny called, "These are our newest residents, Lovino and Feliciano."

Countless pairs of eyes stared at the twins. Judging them.

Feliciano kept himself hidden behind his brother, still sucking his thumb. Lovino, on the other hand, sent a quick glare around the room, warning everyone with his eyes.

Jenny, having not seen Lovino's glare, kept smiling. "I'm sure you two will make friends quickly." She said.

She was wrong.

The twins didn't want to make friends with any of the home's residents. Whenever anyone tried to talk to them, Feliciano would hide behind Lovino and Lovino would glare.

However, one day, when Lovino had been called into the office, one boy managed to catch Feliciano on his own.

The youngest Vargas was sat at the dining room table, sketching quietly when he heard someone walk in.

"So, which one are you?" Asked an American accented voice.

Feliciano looked up, putting down his pencil. He'd seen the boy in front of him a few times. Blonde hair with a gravity defying flick, blue eyes behind vintage glasses, a bomber jacket with the number "50" printed on the back. This was Alfred F Jones. Feli wished Lovino was there, so he could cower behind him. But since he couldn't, he settled for putting his thumb in his mouth.

Alfred laughed lowly. "Oh, you're that one. Aren't you a bit old to be sucking you thumb?" He asked, folding his arms. He glanced over at the small whiteboard that Jenny had got for Feliciano, to help him communicate. "Why don't you talk?"

Feliciano didn't respond.

"And why do you always hide behind your brother? That's pretty fucking pathetic if you ask me."

Feliciano cast his glance downwards, not wanting to meet the American's gaze.

"That's why no one is asking you." came a heavily German accented voice.

Feliciano's head snapped up and he looked towards the doorway. He recognised this boy too. Blonde hair neatly slicked back, piercing blue eyes... this was Ludwig Beilschmidt. In all honesty, he scared Feliciano to death, but he'd never been anything but kind to him, so he really had no reason to fear him.

Alfred scoffed, folding his arms. "What's it got to do with you?" he snapped.

Ludwig glared. "Just fuck off, Jones!" he growled.

Said American rolled his eyes and left. Nobody wants to be on Ludwig's bad side.

Feliciano grabbed his marker and scribbled 'Thank you' on his board.

Ludwig gave an awkward smile and sat down across from the Italian. "Don't worry too much about Alfred." He said. "He talks big, but he couldn't hurt anyone if he tried. I'm Ludwig, by the way."

Feliciano wiped his board clean with his sleeve, before writing 'Feliciano' and doodling a little smiley face.

Ludwig opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the elder Vargas.

"What the hell are you doing to my fratello?" yelled Lovino, rushing into the room and wrapping protective arms around his younger brother.

Ludwig attempted to answer him, but wasn't given a chance before Lovino started shouting again.

"Don't you ever come near my baby brother ever again, you stupid potato bastard! He doesn't want to-" he stopped ranting when he felt gentle tugs on his sleeve. He glanced down to see Feliciano holding up his board.

'He saved me!'

Lovino glared back at the German after reading Feli's board. His defensive hold loosened slightly, only slightly, and he gave a thoughtful hum. "You're off the hook for now." He said. "But I still don't want you around my brother." And with that, he dragged Feli up to their room.

Ludwig blinked. 'What on earth just happened?' He thought.

Once the twins had gotten into their room, Lovino pushed Feliciano onto his bed and folded his arms, glaring at his brother.

Feli put his thumb in his mouth, staring up at his brother with wide, innocent eyes.

Lovi sighed. He hated it when Feli used the eyes. "Well," he mumbled. "I was going to lecture you about getting so friendly with strangers, but I guess I should really read what you have to write first?"

Feliciano grabbed his marker and quickly scribbled a few words onto his board. 'Alfred was being really mean to me and Ludwig told him off, so I was just saying thanks. I thought we could be friends.'

Lovino re-read the last part about three times, before making a noise of frustration and seating himself next to his brother. "How many times do I have to tell you?" He pulled Feliciano against his chest in another protective hug. "We have each other. We don't need anyone else." He sighed, nuzzling into his brother's soft hair. He knew it was selfish to not want his brother to make friends, but he didn't want to loose him. No one was going to take his Feli away.

Feliciano nodded, his thumb still in his mouth. He let his eyes close, feeling calm and safe in his brother's arms. It took him all of twenty seconds to fall asleep.

End Note: Naughty Lolly started another new series before finishing the ones she has on the go again… I'm sorry! This idea was chewing my head, and I finished writing it last night. I also have two others that I'm writing and two that are nibbling my brain cells.
Anyway, I hope you guys liked the first chapter/preview of Apple Tree House, if you liked let me know because I will not be continuing this unless I know that people like it. I also want to apologise for making Alfred such a douche…
Right, enough from me, I hope to hear from you guys soon
The song for this chapter is Anytime Anywhere by Sarah Brightman.

~Lolly xXx