Forget-Me Not

Chapter 13

     I awoke to warm rays of sun, seeping through the crack of a nearby curtain. As I came to my senses I could hear the faint chirp of birds and the distant thump of footsteps. Although I felt very comfortable wrapped up in the sheets, I hoisted myself up to face the day. I couldn't recall how I got here, but I did remember completely breaking down in front of Ludwig. Staying in bed was suddenly much more appealing. 'Everything between us had been so good and I had to go and ruin it...again' I thought to myself as I laid back down.

     I had almost fallen back asleep when I heard the door creak open. "Arthur?" asked a familiar accented voice, "I brought you tea."

     At the word tea, I sprung up to come face to face with a shaggy-haired Ludwig, wearing only boxers and a black tank. In his hands, he held two steaming mugs. I stared for a bit, having not seen him in such a casual state (nor had I seen his muscles so exposed). "Uh...Arthur?" I snapped my attention back to his face to see it completely red.

     "S-Sorry love," I stuttered, feeling my own face go warm.

     He stretched out a mug to me. "Earl Grey, one sugar."

     "Just as I like it."

     As we drank our warm beverages, Ludwig took my hand in his and ran his thumb over my knuckles like he usually did. "So...I decided to take the day off," Ludwig said, placing his now empty cup on the nightstand.

     I gave a hum of affirmation, but then realized that I was most likely the reason he was doing it. "Ludwig you don't have-"

     "But I want to. We can do whatever you want. Just you and me."

     I thought for a moment. I hated people doing things like this to me. Usually, it made me only feel worse. At the same time, Ludwig was warm and made me feel loved. We always had a good time together and he somehow managed to shut out all my insecurities with one touch of the hand. "Can we just stay in today?" I whispered against the rim of my cup.

"Of course." He lowered my cup from my lip with an expectant look in his eye. "Can I try something?"

     "Uh..." I wanted him to, I really wanted him to. But at the same time, that fear of disappointing Ludwig still lingered. As I looked over him, I remembered his words from last night: "all I want to do is make you smile." The memory made my lips twist into a grin and I placed my cup to the side. I leaned forward and let our lips connect.

     The kiss was soft and filled my whole body with a comfortable warmth. We seemed to fit together perfectly. This was okay. Everything was okay as long as I was with Ludwig. At that moment, I finally believed my own words. Memories or not, I was still Arthur. I still loved Ludwig more than anything in this world and he loved me the same. That was what mattered.

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     "Okay, we're going, to be honest with our feelings now. Understood. No holding back." Ludwig spoke as though he was a parent, lecturing their child. I was the older one. If anyone was going to lecture anyone in this relationship it was going to be me. Ludwig must have seen the scowl on my face as he threw me a stern, "Arthur."

     "Fine, fine. I'll start: stop treating me like a child."

     "Then don't act like one."

     "Grrr why you little bugger." He only gave me a smirk in reply. "Your turn," I scoffed, crossing my arms.

     "Okay...you were right. There were so many things I wanted to do with you when you first came home after everything. I wanted to just hold you and kiss you until all your pain went away and your memories returned. Part of me just wanted to ignore the whole issue. I thought maybe if I ignored it, everything would go back to normal, but that only made things worse as I began doing things without thinking. I made you even more uncomfortable than you probably already were and I'm sorry about that."

     I reached over to intertwine our fingers and placed a light kiss on each. I couldn't stay mad at him for long, especially when he talked like that. "Please stop apologizing. It's not your fault. The heart wants what the heart wants right?" Although he looked away, I could see a faint smile on his lips. "I'm sorry I wasn't upfront from the beginning. Not just about what I wasn't willing to do, but my insecurities about all of this as well. It probably would have helped the both of us."

     "Well. We both could have done better."

     "I can agree with that." I got up and pulled Ludwig into the living room. "Now with that out of the way, how about another movie marathon?"