Eridanus Hotel - 5 ***** rating

Walking out into his hotel foyer, Heracles surveyed around to see if his workers had everything in order for when the guests started milling around for dinner. Seeing that they had, he settled himself comfortably down in one of the leather seats in the foyer’s lounge area and relaxed, watching the world go by.

The Eridanus is a 5-star hotel that he had bought 10 years ago when it was just a dilapidated apartment building. After pouring his heart and soul into it and working his fingers to the bone, he made the shell of a building it was, into the hotel it is today. To say he loved the place was an understatement. Though he had to admit he couldn’t have done it without his amazing hotel staff. They were like one big family and they were as proud of the hotel’s reputation as Heracles was.

The problem that was facing them at the moment was the local area. Crime was on the up rise and his business had taken a hit because of it. People weren’t so keen to come to the area to stay so as a result, he was taking fewer and fewer bookings. Having said that though, lately he was getting a few rich clients staying at his hotel who clearly weren’t here on holiday; but with the dwindling room bookings, Heracles found he couldn’t really complain.

Leaning back in the soft, comfortable leather chair, Heracles slowly began to drift off to sleep, oblivious to the noise of the busy hotel.

Arriving back to his hotel after a good dinner, Ludwig passed the rather sleepy looking man in the lounge area and headed to his room, still smiling and thinking of Feliciano. Going to his room, he soon went to sleep once his head hit the soft pillow and nicely firm mattress.

Feliciano had woken up quite early, that morning. He wasn't an early riser, by nature, but he liked the reason for which he was getting up, so it wasn't particularly tough.

He had already prepared the mixture for the cake the day before - it was a simple cake (chocolate and vanilla), simple but tasty, his favorite for breakfast. As he came out from the shower, hair still wet and messy, he took the cake out of the oven, fragrant and soft at the same time, and decided that the whipped cream had to be added. He put some in a box.

He drove to the hotel and parked, then went right in the hotel. He asked for the room of Mr. Ludwig Hofman, and was then directed to it. He looked at himself in the mirror of the elevator - although he had combed carefully, there was always some random curl standing out. Oh well.
He had chosen some casual clothes - jeans, a dark pullover with a white shirt underneath. He wondered how this first meeting would end, and although he felt a bit nervous, he smiled at his reflection in the mirror from the simple bouquet of flowers he had brought. He was only happy to see the other again.

Feliciano knocked on the door. "Room service~" he twittered.

Ludwig had been dreaming of both the reason he was here and the reason he wanted to stick around. It led to a strange mix of both the crime world and romantic dates with the little chef. He wouldn't have really recommended repeating the dream as a whole.

However, the strange journey his mind was taking him on was quickly brought to an end by the knocking on his door. He slowly sat up in the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Room service? But he hadn't ordered room service. As a matter of fact, he hadn't spoken with anyone since he left the restaurant.

He slowly padded to the door, clad in just his pajama bottoms, hair mussed from sleep and opened the door a bit to see who it was.

He smiled as he saw it was Feliciano. He was hoping this wasn't a dream. If it was, someone would be gunning for them in a few moments. As that didn't seem to be happening, he smiled.

"Guten Morgen."

"Buongiorno!" Feliciano stood on the tip of his feet and kissed him on the cheeks again - this time, closer to the mouth than to ears - and then steppe back to offer him the bouquet, with a small bow. He glanced at him and studied for some time what he was wearing - or rather what he was not wearing. He chuckled softly in appreciation - sexy, definitely sexy. And that messy hair made him look younger, sweeter in his still sleepy expression.

"I thought you would appreciate some breakfast~"

He peered at the room behind the man - as expected from the reputation of the hotel, it was an elegant room. "Nice place, eh? I hope you slept well tonight." he commented.
He wondered if his friend could afford the staying by himself or if it was paid by his boss, he didn't ask, though. Money wasn't surely the reason for which he had come to see him - besides, Feliciano didn't care about money: he had seen money being the reason behind murders and other crimes, this was enough for him to decide he didn't want to deal with money anymore.

Ludwig smiled at the enthusiastic greeting from the little chef, and he had to admit he was very pleased to see him. The kisses were also a nice greeting. He had to admit that he really liked that about the Italians. He opened the door wider for the young man and smiled.

He saw the flowers and took them from the other man. He couldn't say that he was used to receiving flowers from those interested in him, but he took them just the same. He led the other man into the room.

"I'm very happy to see you. I can't imagine a better way to wake up. So what is for breakfast?"

Feliciano pirouetted and put the bag he was carrying on a small desk next to the wall.
"I brought some vanilla and chocolate cake~ and coffee, made the Italian way. And some cookies." he answered, taking a flask out of the bag together with the small boxes with the cake and the whipped cream. He had brought two plates and forks, and two small coffee cups.

He arranged everything like it was one of his restaurant's tables and invited him to sit down.
"Help yourself." he said, offering him the cake.

"Want some milk in the coffee? Sugar?" he asked then, pouring the coffee in the cups. He knew the hotel's owner, and he knew that their cooks were good as well. But they didn't have Italian coffee, and Feliciano couldn't do anything without his coffee in the morning.

He eventually sat down and glanced at his new acquaintance: Definitely worth spending extra time in the kitchen for cooking.

Ludwig smiled. "It smells delicious. All of it." He leaned down and pressed his lips to Feliciano's cheek. "Danke."

He headed to the small desk and glanced at everything. "You must have worked very hard to produce this feast," he told the young man. "And I've heard that Italian coffee is very good. I look forward to trying yours."

He had always been a tea drinker, to be honest, but had taken to coffee at times with his work. After work, he preferred his beer. "a bit of milk and sugar would be nice. Though I'm accustomed to the swill at work. I'm sure it couldn't compare to this."

He sat in the chair and happily allowed his new friend to serve him. For now. He would find a way to return the favor somehow.

"Oh, no. Cooking is my job, after all, and I love doing it... what better for me than cooking for a friend?" he answered sincerely.

Feliciano handed him the cup. "I personally wouldn't drink any other coffee." he stated, and sipped from his cup. Again, he glanced at Ludwig and stared at him openly. Those blue eyes were still a bit reddish from the sleep, and his hair were scattered messily on the forehead. He leant towards him to push a wisp of hair on the side, thinking that he would be rather glad to wake up in the morning at this man's side.

"I thought you hair was shorter... you should leave it like this, sometimes. It's cute~" he simply commented.

Walking through the lavish front entrance of the hotel, Kiku cast his eyes across the foyer before walking up to the front desk. A tall, brunette man with tan skin and intense green eyes turn to look at him as he approached. He was still unaccustomed to seeing Europeans; he was so used to the usual dark brown hair and brown eyes of his fellow countrymen. It was the first time he’d been sent here by his bosses to do ‘business’ and he felt very out of his comfort zone. At least this time it was to just give a ‘warning’ to someone and meet a few people on the behalf of his superiors.

Remembering he was here for a reason, Kiku smiled politely and introduced himself.

“Good morning, my name is Kiku Honda. I believe a room has been reserved for me?”

"I keep it short because it gets in my eyes otherwise," Ludwig said as he smiled at the other man.

The cool touch of the smaller man's fingertips made him close his eyes just momentarily as they brushed stray hair from his head. He recovered himself enough to raise the cup of coffee to his lips and took a sip. "Absolutely incredible, Feliciano," he said. "I can see why you wouldn't want to drink anything but."

He set the coffee down. "You'll be joining me for breakfast, not just serving, right?"

Feliciano nodded and sliced the cake. "Ahah, sometimes I remain stuck in my role of cook and waiter, I'm very sorry." He gave him the plate and eventually sat down again, taking a bit from his slice.

"So, the weather is beautiful today~ do you have any special wish about how to spend the morning?" he asked cheerfully after a while.
He didn't know what he wanted to hear back from the other, honestly. He still had met the other only the night before, but it was also true that with Ludwig everything seemed to flow smoothly, almost naturally. And anyway, Feliciano was happy. The weather was lovely, and he was having a good breakfast with a man that he really liked: it already was a good day.

"I wouldn't mind a nice tour of the town with some pleasant company," he said with a smile as he took the first bite of cake. It was very sweet, almost a reflection of the Italian man's personality. He smiled and swallowed. "Very delicious, Feliciano." He took another drink of the coffee. He was more of a savory foods lover when it came to breakfast, but the warm company and the homemade cake made this easily one of the better meals he'd had in a long time.

"You must know of some nice sites around the area here," he said, letting his fingers rest atop Feliciano's wrist, just enough to have contact with the other man. He truly wanted to kiss him now, perhaps put the whipped topping to other use, but he had more than enough self control not to.

His heartbeat slightly accelerated by Ludwig's touch on his wrist, Feliciano nodded enthusiastically, swallowing the second bite of his cake. "Well, it really is up to you depending on what you enjoy the most. There are a few art museums which are worth seeing, if you like contemporary art, that is, but if you prefer to enjoy the weather, we could take a walk along the river and inside the park." he said, gesticulating a bit with his fork. "Or we can as well sightsee in the center."

He looked at the clock, it was 8 am. "Depending on when you have to be at work, we may have time to do both a bit of sightseeing and a museum. But really, it's up to you." He looked out of the window, at the blue slice of sky that they could see above the tops of the buildings around.

Turning around when he heard footsteps, Heracles looked up to see a young Asian man approaching the front desk. He was smaller in stature than himself, had the darkest eyes he’d ever seen – they almost looked black – and was in his opinion, very pretty. Heracles wasn’t accustomed to using the term ‘pretty’ when describing a guy, but with the man stood in front of him, it just fit; especially when he smiled at him.

“Ah Mr Honda, good morning to you. I hope you had a safe journey here? My name is Heracles Karpusi and I’m the owner of this hotel.” He said smiling in return, before typing the man’s name into the computer.

“Yes, you have a single room booked for the following 2 weeks. Is that correct?” Heracles asked whilst scanning the door key card through the computer and placing a piece of paper in front of Kiku to sign.

Antonio was dropped off in front of the Eridanus by a very friendly cab driver. The man wouldn't stop talking. He finally arrived and was now thirsty and cranky. The flight had been long and he just wanted something to refresh him.

He opened the door and was greeted by what looked like a luxury hotel. Except that it wasn't. At least not to the hotels he'd seen in Madrid and Barcelona. He gawked at the decor in the foyer and beyond. He was lost in the its beauty and had to pull himself back or he'd walk into a wall which he almost did. He looked around to make sure nobody was looking and dragged his luggage up to the counter.

In front of him was another man, smaller in stature, speaking to the clerk behind the counter. He patiently waited his turn.

"Why don't we go for a little sightseeing?" he suggested. "Perhaps on your day off, Monday, I think you said it was, we could go out to the museum, maybe dinner someplace that is at least second best to your own cooking."

He took another bite of the cake and smiled at Feliciano. Ludwig wished he had the time to go about, well courting in a way, the other man, but there was no guarantee that Ludwig would have the time to do that. Even if he were here for several weeks trying to fulfill his mission, the amount of free time he would have might not necessarily be guaranteed.

Feliciano nodded happily. "Great~ so, let's eat this cake!" he said, and went on eating almost enthusiastically.

Sightseeing was a good idea, he loved walking outside int he sun. And taking a walk, maybe drink something in one of the small coffee places in the park, was a lovely idea for a first date.

"Ahah, there are a lot of amazing places where to eat here. Just think of which kind of food you would like, I know many." he went on, and finished his cake in another few bites. "There is still some, if you like." he pointed at the small box. The rest of the cake had been left home, on the counter for Lovino and Chibi's breakfast.

Ludwig smiled at Feliciano. "I would like that, since I have to go to a meeting at one."

He finished his piece of cake and knew that, while delicious, he couldn't probably eat more of the sweet. "I think I am quite full." He tentatively let his hand clasp over one of the smaller man's. "But it was delicious." He leaned a little bit closer to the other man.

It may have been traditional to wait until a first date was over to kiss someone, but he really wanted to at that moment. It was only his own sense of restraint that made him take pause.

"Oh, we have almost five hours, then." Although it was enough for walking around, it still made him a bit sad to know that would have to part at a certain time. Still, he already knew that Ludwig should have to go to work at some point, so Feliciano decided that they were lucky enough to have the whole morning for themselves, instead.

He glanced down at the hand over his, and then at the other's face, suddenly a bit closer to him.

"I'm glad to hear that. And, oh, you have some crumbs here on the side..." leaning closer as well, he reached out with the other hand, caressing Ludwig's mouth with his fingertips to wipe away a few invisible crumbs.

Ludwig's cheeks turned pink as fingers touched his mouth. "Danke. I would hate to go out with crumbs on my lips." He leaned forward after the hand moved and pressed his lips lightly to Feliciano's. The man tasted of the sweet cake and coffee, and his lips were surprisingly softer than most men Ludwig had kissed in the past. He smiled as he moved back. "Just to make sure that you have no crumbs. I try to always be thorough."

He gave the hand beneath his a squeeze. "So I suppose it's time for a tour of the town."

His lips prickled as Ludwig's mouth left his. "Ve, grazie~"
For having been just a light kiss from a person he had just met the day before, it made him incredibly happy.

Feliciano was tempted to follow those lips and kiss him again, deeper this time, but his eyes fell on the man in front of him and his bare chest.

"Of course it is~ Are you coming like this or are you planning to get dressed? I totally wouldn't complain if you chose the former option, you know!" His smile turned a bit naughty, and he stared shamelessly at Ludwig's body. "I could even follow you in that." he declared.

Ludwig smirked as he stood and looked at Feliciano. He knew a lot of people liked his build, and he had to admit that he rather liked the obvious looks from the Italian. He stretched his arms out. "I suppose I could get dressed, but if you try to tempt me with promises you would match my state of dress, I might be tempted to stay this way."

He grinned and went to get some clothes from his suitcase. He got a dress shirt and black pants, and a gray suit jacket. He knew he'd need to carry his credentials with him for the meeting with Interpol.

"I suppose since I have to be at a meeting, I should get dressed in something a little more formal."

He smiled and went into the bathroom to get dressed and ready for the day.

Feliciano smiled back at him and put plates and boxes back in his bag. He then sat down on the bed, patting the mattress to test it. Since it was quite comfortable, he laid down belly up, moving his arms in the unmade sheets and bedspread. One hand ended up over the pillow, and he grabbed it, dropping it over his face.

It smelled faintly of shampoo and of Ludwig's scent, and he rested under it for a while. He even considered undressing and letting Ludwig find him naked in the bed - he was rather curious to see the man in those elegant clothes, and even more curious to undress him - but then he thought better of it, thinking that probably the other would prefer to get to know him a bit better, first.

Dressed in the suit and morning rituals completed, Ludwig stepped out of the bathroom to see Feliciano on his bed.

"If you're comfortable there, you could stay." He smiled, but tried to shoo the part of his mind that was encouraging the little Italian to not only stay but do a bit more in his bed. He'd learned too many bad habits growing up with his mother, and he knew that needed to stop.

"Though, if you want to show me some of the city, I think you will need to get up."