Ludwig's and Roderich's Room

Roderich went back to rifling through Ludwig's clothes. 'Oh, Boss designed SS uniforms,' he answered vaguely, checking the quality of a pair of off-white, stonewashed jeans and finding himself quite pleased with the verdict. 'Everyone falls back on that to make a point about the military being fashionable, although you could just as easily say fashion is evil, I suppose.' He pulled out a dark brown dress shirt, holding it against Ludwig and narrowing his eyes as he contemplated it. 'Hold that for a second...'

He laughed as Ludwig touched his sleeve, looking up from the coat he was now inspecting. 'Well, this is what you might call mock-Baroque or aristocrat or...something,' he explained, with a slight, elegant shrug. 'You could also bring up the eighties, if you were feeling ungenerous.' He gave a brief wink to show he was joking. He cared about this sort of thing, but he had (believe it or not) a sense of humour about it.

'Right...' Roderich held the shirt and jeans he'd picked out together, comparing colours. 'Jeans are fine, it's not going to be that formal. Do you have dark brown boots?'

(Inner stylist going wild, sorry >u>; )

"So bringing up Boy George, that's a bad idea?" He chuckled and held the shirt and jeans. "Before you kill me, I'm kidding. The style suits you."

He looked down at the jeans and the brown shirt. "I do. I have black, brown, gray and some sneakers. Should I wear a jacket over it?" he asked, though he knew that Roderich wasn't probably done choosing his clothes. He smiled as he watched him, knowing he was in his element right now. "Actually, I'll keep my mouth shut and you just go ahead and dress me for the night."

He smiled at Roderich, enjoying seeing him so lost in an interest like this.

'Good God, if you ever see me in a hat like his, burn it and lock me away until I come to my senses,' Roderich replied, affecting a horrified expression. Then he smiled, self-consciously adjusting his sleeves. 'Well, I try.'

'Brown boots, then, over the jeans rather than under...and a jacket, yes. Any neutral will do, grey, brown, black. A long coat might be nice if you have one. I'd also add...let me see...' He slipped past Ludwig to his own wardrobe, hunting through his collection of accessories and coming out with a dark belt and a tie. The belt had a large brass buckle, quite ornately patterned, and the tie was striped silk in two bronze shades. He held it against Ludwig's shirt, and then Ludwig himself. 'Maybe. What do you think?'

He did tend to get caught up in this kind of thing- he was the same with music, with art and poetry, anything that had detail for him to lose himself in. He was glad Ludwig humoured him.

"I think I should probably start changing," he said as he looked at the clothing he'd been given. "And I have a coat. It's black. I bought it in Germany but never wore it there. Apparently, it was cut to similar to a gestapo uniform, and it felt wrong after that was pointed out to me." He reached into the wardrobe and pulled out the black coat. It had a few touches that made it look very different, but the cut was the same.

There were touches of metallics on the sleeves and lapels, as well as the buttons.

"Will this work with the tie, shirt and jeans, do you think?" He attempted to hold them all up together. He was no good with fashion.

'It...does bring that to mind,' Roderich said as he inspected the coat. 'But on the other hand, it's perfect. Anyway, a lot of military coats are cut similarly, don't worry about it. It's all fine, except...I'll change the tie, hold on.' He dug around in his collection again, coming up with a thin silk tie in a pale, silvery-white colour. 'The better to suit the coat.'

Handing it over, he closed Ludwig's wardrobe and moved to his own. 'I'd better find something too, I almost forgot,' he said with a smile, mentally co-ordinating something much quicker than he had for Ludwig, and pulling out the necessary items, starting with a black shirt. 'Go ahead and change, I won't take long.'

Ludwig nodded, putting the clothing on the bed they now shared as he proceeded to strip down. He pulled off his shirt and set it on the bed, then took off his pants, leaving only his boxer shorts. He pulled the jeans on, then the brown dress shirt, tucking it into the pants.

The tie was a different matter. He had to pause after his first attempt to tie the knot. He started again, doing the Pratt knot his father had taught him to do, this time with his eyes closed. He imagined his father's hands instructing him how to do it the first time around.

He tightened it and smiled when he saw he'd done it right. He moved on to Roderich's belt, grateful there wasn't too much of a size difference.

Roderich watched Ludwig over his shoulder as he removed his ascot, and then his shirt; he slipped into the new black one, which had less in the way of extraneous sleeve material, and a high, upturned collar. He paired it with a soft charcoal waistcoat and a silvery-grey scarf, tied with a ruche knot and tucked into his shirt. After that came dark grey pants and a pair of knee-high black boots, laced up and embellished with silver. He selected a long, black wool coat, setting it aside until they were ready to go, and turned back to Ludwig.

He smiled as the other young man tied the knot, and began to fasten his belt. 'Fit alright? How is it all?'

Ludwig nodded. "It all fits fine," he said, slipping his black coat on and his brown boots, over the pants as the other man had told him. He laced the boots up and hooked the two buckles at the top to the outward side of the boot.

He stood and pulled the coat on, beginning to button the tailored coat, but stopped at looked at Roderich. "Should I leave it open? Seems like i should since I'm wearing this with jeans."

He ran a hand over his hair to make sure it was slicked in place.

'Yes, leave it open,' Roderich replied, pulling on his own coat; he buttoned his up. He glanced into a mirror, adjusting his hair and, after a second's debate, dispensing with his glasses. He set them aside, turning back to Ludwig and looking him over.

'Very nice, if I do say so myself,' he said, smiling; unable to resist, he adjusted the knot in Ludwig's tie slightly, and smoothed his shirt down before straightening his coat's lapels. Then he looked up, resting his fingertips lightly on Ludwig's chest. He rather thought the other man would look good in almost anything, by dint of looking that good to begin with. 'You look...' Practically edible, his mind told him. He settled on the less provocative '...marvelous.'

Ludwig felt his body heat up at Roderich's approach, the appreciative gaze, then the final adjustments on the outfit. He smiled, not really sure the last time he might have ever been called "marvelous" before.

"You look very handsome." He didn't know if handsome really was the word he wanted, but it worked well enough for him. He wasn't a man of words, not nice ones, not ones involving compliments or emotions. If he had to yell at someone, cut them down, he could easily do that, but to tell the other teen that he looked amazing was difficult.

Instead, with how close he was, he met Roderich's eyes a moment before leaning down to kiss him, this time, getting the angle right.

Roderich let his hands wander up to Ludwig's neck, caressing his cheek before settling on either side of it. He leaned up into the kiss, responding slowly and sensually and pressing himself to the taller man, suddenly wanting to be embraced. Their plans could wait for a moment or two while he enjoyed this simple pleasure. It struck him that he hadn't had this kind of...for want of a better term, loving closeness, for quite a while now. Ludwig was the first person in a long time to make him want it; what did that mean? He still wasn't sure they'd made the right decision, for Ludwig's sake rather than his own, but it felt right. He pushed those thoughts aside, deepening the kiss as if trying to express himself through it.

Ludwig let his lips part and one of his hands moved to Roderich's face while he let his arm wrap around his back. There was something about Roderich, from the time he'd brought that absurd trunk now occupying Ludwig's bed into the room. He liked Ludwig, and Ludwig liked him in return. At least, that seemed like the right word for it now.

He had his uncertainties about how this was proceeding, but he'd never had anyone who was interested in him in this way before. He gently bit the teen's bottom lip and drew it into his mouth. He caressed Roderich's cheek as he released that lip only to trace it with his tongue.

Roderich let out a sigh, wrapping his arms fully around Ludwig's neck, and gently teasing at his tongue with his own. He lingered like that for a while, then pulled back just a bit, pressing a few more kisses to Ludwig's lips before nuzzling against his cheek, then settling into a hug. He rested his head on Ludwig's shoulder, sighing again.

'Are you quite sure you want to do this?' He wasn't talking about dinner, or even about the bed; he wanted Ludwig, but he couldn't help feeling like he'd pressured him into something. It hadn't been his intent, but he'd gotten caught up before he could stop himself.

Ludwig returned each of the smaller kisses as the deeper one ended. He pressed his cheek against Roderich's as they hugged, and he held him tightly. He was enjoying the closeness and his eyes were slipping closed as he heard Roderich speak again.

Did he want this? He could guess as soon as the other man uttered it the teen wasn't talking about the date. It seemed almost absurd that he wouldn't want someone who wanted him as much as he wanted them. He'd been the odd man out often enough in school. Why on earth wouldn't he want to be with someone like this, even if it had gone a bit fast for his liking.

He let out a soft snort. "Of course I do," he said. Then he froze. Did Roderich not want it? Every muscle tensed in his body tensed and he pulled back to look Roderich in the eyes. "You don't?"

Roderich shook his head, bringing his hand up to cup Ludwig's cheek in reassurance. 'No, I do. Believe me, I do,' he said, with an embarrassed laugh at himself. 'But, I've done this kind of thing before- not exactly this way, of course,' he clarified- he certainly hadn't moved this quickly, at least not with intent to stay- 'I just...want to make sure you're alright. That you're not making mistakes on my account. But if you're sure that you want...me, well.' He blushed, and smiled, not quite able to continue.

The more he thought about it, the more absurd it was, almost to the point of making him wonder if it was too good to be true, and that there'd be a catch sooner or later. On the other hand, the arms wrapped around him and the bright, anxious eyes looking down at him made him care about little else; if it was a mistake, so be it.

Ludwig grinned, both at the concern that Roderich was showing him and that the brunet had no intention of rejecting him. "I've never done anything like this before," he admitted, "quickly or not. But yeah, I want you if you'll have me." He placed a small kiss to Roderich's lips. "So do you think we should stop by my brother's room and see if he and Matthew want to ..." He paused a moment before calling it this. "double date?"

He liked the idea of it being a date, whether double or otherwise, with his roommate. He saw a stray piece of Roderich's hair, not the ever-defiant one on the top, on the side and ran his fingers through it to put it in place.

Roderich laughed softly as Ludwig's fingers slid through his hair; impulsively, he took his hand and brought it briefly to his lips, then wound their fingers together again, tugging Ludwig gently towards the door.

'Yes, why not? Matthew seems nice, it would be good to get to know him. The question is, of course,' he added, slightly mischievously, 'is whether or not they'd consider it a double date.' He wouldn't be surprised if it ended up that way, considering Gilbert's earlier behaviour, but they didn't seem to be in the same boat as he and Ludwig were. Then again, who was.

Ludwig smiled and walked with him to the door. "He does seem nice. The problem will be, what do we do with Chibitalia? I mean, we did leave a kid in my brother's care." He kept his hand in Roderich's. If they were going to be on a date -- It seemed obvious they weren't wearing these clothes just to hang out downtown -- then he wasn't going to complain about walking with the other teen's hand in his own, even if it meant going to his brother's room.

He wondered what comment there would be. Or if his brother would just think it explained his awkwardness throughout most of Ludwig's life. (Never easy when you don't get out of the "girls are ucky" phase.)

"Let's go."

'Oh yes, Chibitalia...hmm...' Roderich thought about the child, wondering what to do about her, as he opened the door and led Ludwig out. 'We'll just have to ask Gilbert, I suppose...it wouldn't hurt to take her along, if it came to that. As long as we behaved in front of her,' he added, with a smile.

He led the way into the corridor, heading for Gilbert's room.

(aaaand I'll move it over there, unless anyone else wants to post over there first.)