ｔｈｅ ｂａｌｃｏｎｙ ｂｅｌｏｗ ｍｅ

[zombles]

Okay, he didn't think that his neighbor could go this freezing morning wearing just boxers. It was a little embarrassing to say the least. With that, Ludwig couldn't help but blush just a little bit. Couldn't he had worn a robe or something? Goodness gracious. It wasn't a sin to just wear your boxers, but Ludwig, he was just a giant pile of shyness and being an awkward potato.

Not to mention that Ludwig had been expecting his neighbor to be uh female. In all honesty, he was happy because it wasn't. He was better talking to men than to women. He was even more awkward if that was possible. The man who had answered the downward had curled brown hair, slightly matted from sleep and one curl that stuck out of the side of his head. Ludwig was tempted to press it back into the rest of the sleepy curls, but that was a bit out of character.

As he started to speak, Ludwig noticed an accent to his English. It was singsongy, and sounded almost like a lullaby. Spanish..? It didn't sound like Spanish. The only other language that Ludwig could recognize with an accent like that might be Italian. Anyways, that was a pleasant surprise. When he started working at Scotland Yard at first had always questioned his accent, so hopefully he could sympathize with his new neighbor. I mean, if they got that far into some type of relationship or whatever.

"Oh, ah- no!" The blond said gruffly. Give him a break, he hadn't really used his voice this morning. He had a habit of sleeping with his mouth open too. "I mean," he begun to correct himself because with those puppy eyes from the other, he didn't want to hurt his neighbor's feelings. "That coffee's really expensive, it's imported and everything, I really would't want you to waste it on me."

[vault]

Feliciano was shocked at the response. There was a second of sheer panic when the other blatantly refused, but the gentler follow-up returned his confidence. "Waste it? On you? Nonsense." He reached forward and gently tugged the other man's hand, trying to convince him. "It's free coffee, my grandfather sends it every week. It's not expensive at all where I live—well, used to live." Damn, this guy was strong... He wouldn't budge at all. Just looking at him, though, Feliciano knew he didn't want to lose him already. Alright, another direction then. "Ah, I probably didn't say... I'm Feliciano Vargas! It's a mouthful, though, so you can call me Feli, if you want. You're Germanic, of some sort?" He questioned, smiling gently. "C'mon, tell me about where you're from? Over a cup of really delicious coffee? Please?"

Feliciano was nothing if not charismatic, but he genuinely meant it. The UK was beautiful, and he loved his studies, but there was just something about regularly seeing people of different nationalities that was even more beautiful. He'd interviewed a guy from one of the nordic countries a few weeks ago and asked him to describe the northern lights in his own language. The result was one of the most beautiful and dynamic things he'd ever painted. When Feli was younger he'd spent some time in Austria, where he hadn't been perfect in his studies, but he'd never since been able to recreate the austere mood of those paintings he did with his Germanic hosts. Later, he'd worked as a tour guide in Venice (and Rome, occasionally, some summers), and the Germanic tourists were thrilling. Terrifying, yes, but genuinely curious and il mio dio, hilarious when approached by overly social italians. Pushing down a wave of oddly-timed homesickness, he hesitated. "I mean, unless you have better things to do, uh, that's fine, it's not my place to intrude but, I think it'd be really fun, and now that I'm up really early I'm just going to have to work on my projects and, uh, it's coffee for two people and I could drink both but what's the point and you're here and you seem nice so—" his sudden nervousness taking control, he just couldn't stop rambling.

[zombles]

Ludwig glanced down as Feliciano attempted to tug on his hand, raising an eyebrow since that probably wasn't going to do anything. He was kind of like a rock. His neighbor was a bit attractive and cute too, not to mention being a bit friendly and practically inviting a total stranger into his home. Thank goodness Ludwig wasn't a murderer or had bad intentions with this cause he was getting this vibe that no matter how he was, Feliciano most likely would have invited him in anyways.

Ludwig's eyes flickered to the side before he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. "Okay, okay, fine," it couldn't hurt? Right? He gestured for the other to take in a deep breath and possibly calm down since words were just flying out of his mouth like crazy. Was it physically possible to ramble that much? Today had been such a weird, eventful day and it was barely eight o'clock in the morning. Huh.

He took a step forward, looking behind the brunet's head and into his apartment, taking in the differences between his and Feliciano's living spaces. He met the other's amber eyes with amusement licking like fire in his eyes. "And, your name isn't that much of a mouthful, Feliciano." He said, getting used to the other's uncommon name on his tongue. That sounded like an Italian name alright. It seemed like it suited the other quite well, though. Very well. "My name is Ludwig Beilschmidt. My name isn't any better." The blond snorted. "Oh, and, yes, I'm from Germany."

[vault]

Stopping his verbal runaway train. Smile instantly returning, he waited before running to make the coffee. "It's so nice to meet you, Lud. You're actually the first person I've been introduced to in the building." He quickly retrieved two mugs (consequentially, the animal-decorated ones, his nicest) and got the packet brewing. "So, what do you want to do, as a policeman? Just a constable position, or do you have loftier goals than that? And—if I can ask, why are you here? Where's your hometown in Germany?" Feliciano was filled with questions as he skittered around the kitchen. He probably didn't need more caffeine, but what's the difference, really?

Grabbing the mug covered in dogs first, he finally filled it and turned around, hesitating on what to say. Struggling, decided just to go for it. "Ah, h-hier ist dein Kaffee." Pausing before continuing, "Magst du milch oder zucker? Ah, mit... das?" He beamed, pushing the mug closer. Yeah, he was proud of that. No matter how badly he probably mispronounced it—My teacher would be seething, probably. Hopefully Ludwig likes puppies, though, he mused, filling the kitten-patterned mug up for himself.

[zombles]

Ludwig was overwhelmed by the bombardment of personal questions. He wasn't the easy guy to spill his beans about his whole life story. But the other had asked, and it was rude not to answer them. Besides, they weren't that personal of questions. "Well, I'm an investigator for homicides: murders, suicide-murders, assassinations..." That wasn't a happy subject to start their conversation off with, so he decide to cut his list shorter and a small shrug in reply about his job as well. "My older brother lives in London, outside the inner city though. I came here originally to go into law. I'm from Regensburg." Ludwig concluded, watching the other with a little bit worry. "You have to tell me about yourself though."

Ludwig blinked as the dog mug was hovered in front of his face, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as his hands reached out to take the coffee. At first he was a little surprised to hear Feliciano speaking his native language. He only occasionally heard it- when he was with Gilbert or when he was watching German football. It wasn't the best German he had ever heard in his life, but it was a polite attempt and made Ludwig happy even though he wasn't the best at showing it. "Es geht mir gut. Danke schön, für die Kaffee und das Angebot." It felt weird, speaking to someone else in German who he didn't exactly know outside of German speaking countries. This day kept throwing curveballs at him.

[ even though that was literally the smallest thing of German ever, it took me forever to make sure I got it right (or attempted to get it close). I'm sorry if I messed lol cause I actually haven't taken a class or course of German yet but somehow attempting to teach myself. ]

[vault]

Listening to the other talk, Feliciano slipped around the counter island and hopped up on one of the comfy island stools, patting the other chair in an attempt to get Ludwig to sit down. His eyes brightened as the other talked, taking in his voice and body language in the early morning colors. Man, he'd be fun to sketch. Or paint, or anything, really. Maybe he'd ask sometime. It was hard for him to resist just reaching out and positioning him, all muscles and sharp lines, a perfect character study opportunity. Feli didn't hang out with muscular people.

Feliciano listened intently as the other continued, making mental notes as he went on. "Si, Castra regina," he trilled, once Ludwig finished. "My grandpa's a huge history geek, some of that has rubbed off on me, I guess." He laughed before continuing. "I have an older brother too! He lives out in Twickenham with his boyfriend—well, he says they're not dating but c'mon, really, they're like a married couple." He swung his legs a bit, thinking about what to say for himself before taking a sip of his caffè and continuing. "Wow, so you're pretty important then, with the police, huh? I'm not important, really. I mean, more is expected from me than what I accomplished..." He might as well just start.

"I'm, ah, studying at the Royal College of Art, under the Masters of Fine Art and Art History slash—" He made a backslash in the air with his free hand— "Curation, programme, so basically, I have no idea what I'm doing. Maybe I'll do the PhD programme next year, but I'm really not sure at all." He hesitated. "I mean I'm pretty sure that's why Lovino—my brother, sorry—came with, he doesn't think I ever really know what I'm doing." He laughed quietly. "He's working now, though, so that's good." Deep in thought, he hummed before continuing. "I'm from Dorsoduro, Venezia, most recently, but we lived outside Florence for a while too, and Rome, and oh, of course, I studied in Austria, I'm from all over really, but mosty Italia, obviously." Recalling his neighbor's light blush and hesitation earlier, Feliciano quickly added, "You can stop me whenever you want. I'm sorry, I talk a lot, and I'm sorta obnoxiously curious. It's good to have someone to talk to, other than family, though." He smiled, hoping that the other felt comfortable enough talking to him to continue. "That aside, Is your brother a lot like you? All buff and quiet?" He added jokingly, looking down and tracing the cats on his pastel mug with his fingertips.

[ don't worry, silly, that was great! ♥ uvu I just hope I'm doing okay at rping in general]

[zombles]

Ludwig followed him deeper in the apartment building, remembering to shut the door behind him because Feliciano might of not wanted any strangers wandering into his house or whatever. He glanced down at the other stool and with a small sigh, took a seat across from him. He watched the other as he talked, observing his expressiveness with his hands and just everything. He was pretty similar to his notes. It was kinda cute.

He chuckled at some of his comments, offering him a nod here and there to keep encouraging him. Somehow, he was managing to keep up with the conversation. This was longest conversation Ludwig had ever had that didn't involve talking about dead bodies or murders. This day was a huge milestone.

Ludwig gave a small, shyer smile at his comment but that was only on his features for a moment. "I've only been to Italien a couple times, but it's very beautiful and maybe I'll live there in the future." He shook his head at the other's comment about all he did was talk. "No, it's alright I'm not good at carrying a conversation."

The blond was taken aback by the last thing he said. He wasn't good at having things pointed out about his appearance or his personality. A blush took over his face again as he averted his eyes, pushing back his blond hair so it got out of his eyes. He should have really gelled his hair back. "He's not. Not at all." Ludwig rolled his eyes with a groan at the thought of just Gilbert being Gilbert. "He's as loud as can be and gets even worse when he drinks too much. Gilbert, my brother, enjoys embarrassing and teasing me. He's also too overprotective."

[ you're doing an amazing job! :) ]

[vault]

Feliciano smiled wider at that, somehow, an embarrassed, warm-cheeked, crinkles-around-the-eyes, I-can-barely-see smile. For some reason, the compliment to his homeland felt like a compliment towards himself. "Ehe, yeah, it is really beautiful, isn't it?" His smile suddenly drooped. "I really miss it. Ah, and I've never been to Germany, unfortunately. I can't believe I haven't, the architecture is really—" quickly brightening, as was his tendency, he was swept off by another train of thought. "Hey, I could do my architectural project on that, maybe. I still haven't decided on the final, it's supposed to be something I don't have much experience with." Setting his mug down and sliding off the stool (they were juuuust too tall for his feet to touch the ground), Feliciano ran off to make a note on his whiteboard.

Grabbing a blanket on the way, he skipped back and climbed onto his stool again. "Well, you're an excellent listener, even if you think you're not good at conversation," he started, tucking a curly strand of hair back as he talked. "Listening is the most important part of all conversations, technically, especially during the pauses! It's not something I'm good at, unless something is wrong." He looked down, slightly ashamed. "So, y'know, you balance me out. I bet people like you for that, then." He added, deciding to move on. "Um, hey, is your brother the one with white hair? He held the door for me and my brother once, he was really really loudly excited about something, I don't know what, but being happy is important, so it's good that he was happy—" He paused, distracted by the other's reddened face. "Are you sure you're not actually sick? Maybe you do have a fever." With his natural lack of personal boundaries, he pressed the back of his hand to the other's forehead. "Well, here, just in case. I'll grab another blanket." Feliciano dumped his warm blanket onto Ludwig, and retrieved another for himself. "Better?"

[zombles]

Ludwig turned on the stool to watch the other walk away, taking a long sip of the coffee and allowed the steam to billow in front of his eyes as he watched the Italian bounce away. He was a cheerful wasn't he? It couldn't hurt to hang out with someone like that, I guess... He watched him come back with a blanket and hop onto the stool. Even when Feliciano tucked a lock of his brown hair behind his hair, that one curl did not move. Well, it moved when Feliciano moved, but it would not even droop or dare to lie flat.

"Ja, sadly that's him," Ludwig sighed. He loved Gilbert, don't get him wrong, but the albino could be the most annoying thing on the planet and could be the complainer sometimes. But he had practically raised him, so the surprising part was that Ludwig didn't share that many traits with him. They were both insane neat-freaks though. He knew he had gotten that from his brother. Possibly his grandfather too. Ludwig had never known his parents too well, or had been old enough that he could remember details. His mother was warm and his father was protective. They were just blurs in his mind.

Pulled from his memories at the hand now touching his forehead, Ludwig looked up wide-eyed at Feliciano. His brain lagged for a moment at the sudden physical contact before he attempted to fight another wave of blush witting his cheeks. "Well, I did linger out on my balcony for ten minutes or so," Ludwig lied. It wasn't exactly lying... He wasn't going to admit he had been blushing though, never ever. He gave a solemn nod in thanks at the blanket now draped across his shoulders.

[vault]

Feliciano's eyes widened as he returned, swearing Ludwig was even more flushed. "Are you positive? You almost look worse!" Flustered, he put his second blanket on the other's lap for good measure, accidentally brushing cold hands out of the way. "Wow, You're freezing. Have you eaten anything yet?" He said, concerned. "I know it's early, believe me. Good thing I'm up, though, huh?" He winked, not letting the "rude" wakeup go quite yet, before continuing, "But it's important to eat breakfast."

Suddenly, inspiration hit him. "Hey, I could cook something, then it'd be warmer in here, too!" Though so far Lud was so easy to talk to, Felicano knew he should still ask. He did so hesitantly, hoping it wasn't rude. Ludwig could easily decline if he wasn't feeling up to it. "Are you hungry? Do you have time for food now that you don't have work?" Yes, that was okay. After all, what would be the point of kicking him out, possibly sick, leaving both to eat alone?

Augh, bedtime. Sorry it's so short! I couldn't say anything else without it being your move. Well, honestly I probably could, but I am so wiped out that I have no brain left to think with. I'm lovin' this, though.