City Park

Ludwig felt Feliciano turning toward him. His hand moved to Feliciano's back to support him. He didn't want him falling off, so he made sure that the smaller man didn't get hurt as he turned on the front of the horse.

What did the prince do? he questioned. Only to realize that he knew precisely what Feliciano was getting at. Or at least, he was hoping that he did. He leaned in, moving the hand at Feliciano's hip to the pole as he leaned in to press his lips to the other man's.

His lips were pleasant against his own, soft, but still obviously a man's. Tentatively, he drew Feliciano's bottom lip into his mouth and sucked on it as he kissed him.

Feliciano smiled on the lips pressed to his, happy that the man had took his hint. He had already decided he liked those lips, from the short kisses they had exchanged in the hotel room, which had also made him quite eager to discover that mouth a little bit better.

He let the other suck his bottom lip, with a soft moan, then passed the tip of his tongue on Ludwig's lips, making them part and kissing him soundly, his arms now wrapped around his neck.

Although he had met him not even 24 hours before, that seemed just natural. Feliciano had always been a physical person, but it had hardly ever been so easy and natural as it was with Ludwig. He didn't question the feeling at all, but only enjoyed it, hoping that the other man didn't find him too invasive.

Ludwig was a bit surprised as Feliciano's tongue came into play, but he enjoyed it all the same. He willingly parted his lips and allowed the smaller man the opportunity to thoroughly kiss him. He even dared to let his own tongue move against Feliciano's. He continued to hold Feliciano with one hand while holding onto the horse with the other. When the smaller man's arms wrapped around him, he knew he needed to be the one to hold them onto the still-moving horse.

He hated that he would have to call this date short in order to get back to his duties for work, but such was the life he'd chosen. Of course, the longer he was here investigating, the longer time he had to spend with Feliciano. Perhaps things would go well enough he could kidnap the chef to come back to Germany with him.

The situation felt a bit unreal, a dreamy combination of the movement of the carousel, the melody and the kiss, all amplified by the fact that he was holding his eyes closed. In a way, only the fact that he was embracing Ludwig kept him from feeling sick or dizzy, even if that kiss was making him dizzy in another way.

He could feel his cheeks blushing and his heartbeat fastening - maybe the place he had chosen for their first kiss wasn't the safest one, he realized as he felt something else warming up as well, and that up and down movement didn't help for sure. Still, it was way too delicious to complain.

Too bad he would have to leave, he thought - but, truly enough, he wouldn't probably have dared so much if he knew that Ludwig wasn't going to leave soon.

Ludwig finally broke the kiss and looked at Feliciano. "That was a very impressive kiss," he said as the music continued, along with the horse.

He smiled and licked his own kiss-swollen lips. "Did you want to get off of this ride?" he asked. "Or should we let it last a bit longer?" He leaned in and lightly kissed his lips and then cheek and jaw. Doing this on the moving horse was, by no means the easiest thing to do, but he certainly didn't mind, though steady ground would certainly make it easier.

Feliciano opened his eyes lazily, his cheek resting on Ludwig's shoulder, a quiet smile on his lips. The trees around the carousel were an indistinct row of green shadows, as if his mind, still lost in the kiss, couldn't really process what he was seeing. Sighing, he laced his arms loosely around the blonde's waist, wondering if the man hadn't brought him away on a figurative white horse for real.

"I think the ride is ending soon." he replied, smiling. He had been on that carousel enough times to know how long the music lasted before the end.
As he had predicted, the carousel soon slowed down and the music faded away, while the horses stopped their movement.
Although it was time to get out of the carousel, Feliciano didn't move, grasping the last moments of that little spell he had lived in the few minutes the ride had lasted.

Ludwig smiled as the ride finally stopped. "I hate that this is coming to an end soon," he said as he caressed Feliciano's cheek. "But I at least know that you and I will see one another this evening."

He climbed off of the horse and took Feliciano into his arms, lifting him down from the dark horse and slowly lowering him to the ground. He savored each moment while he encircled Feliciano with his arms. "I suppose we should get down and head back to your car."

Again, he reminded himself of the way the chef drove and felt his stomach in his throat.

Feliciano sighed. "Sure." he smiled back to Ludwig. Of course he was a bit sad as well, but the perspective of meeting him tonight was enough to cheer him up.

"I suppose so, too..." Feliciano nodded. As they got off the carousel, he glanced at the girl in the stand - who was stll hiding behind the magazine but, admittedly, had peered out more than once to check what was going on in her carousel.
The show had probably been good enough because, before Feliciano could even say he was going to pay, she gestured at him with his hand and said that for them it was completely free.

He smiled at Ludwig and pointed at another winding path, a shorter way to the entrance of the park. "This way is shorter!" he stated, and grabbed his arm again.

"Once in you tell me where I have to bring you. I left my GPS in the other car, but I should have a map, and anyway I know this city well enough."



[[now that Toni's gone... what should we do? Change our plans? Wait?]]

((Hey guys, I think I've read through most everything, so if you're cool with it I'll just continue where the previous Toni left off. As I understand it he is currently passed out on the sofa at the hotel, waiting to meet his partner. If I screw anything up just gimme a shout, I suppose. So yeah, carry on and when you're ready for me to jump in lemme know. : 3))

((Okay Toni. What do you say as soon as we wrap up here, Lud'll go to the Interpol office to go and meet up with his new partner?))

"If you drop me off downtown, I'm sure I can get there," Ludwig said. "I don't know if I'm supposed to meet my business partner outside or inside." He smiled as he walked to Feliciano's car. "With any luck, I will be able to meet up with him downtown and talk with him about other things other than just business."

He pulled out his phone. "As a matter of fact, I'll text him now."

He pulled out his phone and sent a text message, probably full of broken English, and wrote what he thought read: "I have been touring the city with one of the locals. If you wanted to meet on Main Street and walk to the Interpol office together, we could get familiar with one another."

"It looks as though that is the plan. If you don't mind, Feliciano." He smiled at the other man.

((oh my, sorry, the notification thing decided this thread didn't exist anymore and I didn't notice the replies. *fail*))


"Ah, sure! I'll leave you close to the Main Street then, it will be easy to meet your partner somewhere along it, it's full of shops and places you can use as meeting point." Feliciano replied, taking out the keys of the car.

He held the door open for his friend and then jumped in in his place. "Since it's almost lunch time, we'll find some traffic but I assure you we will be there in time." he nodded enthusiastically "It would be a pity if our first date would end up with you being late at work." he chuckled and pressed the accelerator. There was something about avoiding cars in the street at the maximum speed that really amused him, as if it was a car race videogame.

"If I find my map" he said as he started rummaging in the dashboard, discovering old cds, chewing-gum packs, broken sunglasses and a few other non identified objects "I can lend it to you, just in case."

As they took off in Feliciano's little sports car once again, Ludwig found himself again praying in German to God or whatever higher power might listen to keep them from being in a horrendous wreck. He closed his eyes, almost terrified to imagine the speeds at which they were going and the risks Feliciano was taking. That was, until he heard Feliciano rooting around in the car for a map.

"That's okay. I have one," he said pulling Feliciano's hand from the floor, removing the empty gum packet from it and placing it securely on the steering wheel. "I appreciate it, but really, it's okay."

He was certain that driving with the other man was costing him years of his life, more so than even his job did.

"Oh, okay." Feliciano glanced inquisitively at the man sitting beside him. The blonde looked quite worried and stressed all of a sudden, while he had looked so calm and relaxed when they were still wandering in the park. Could it be that this meeting was making him nervous or a bit scared? Feliciano tried to imagine who could possibly make such a strong-looking man nervous, without being able to figure it out.

"Is your job stressful?" he asked, while his attention shifted from the man's face to the sides of the road, trying to spot a place where to park. But as he had assumed previously, the traffic was a lot and there weren't free places at the horizon.
Maybe Ludwig was just still a bit tired from the flight, though, and Feliciano wondered if he should have spent the morning resting instead of being dragged around by him, having to face an afternoon job meeting.

"I hope you didn't waste precious time coming out with me this morning..." he almost muttered, looking worried at Ludwig again.

"My job can be," Ludwig said, wondering if perhaps Feliciano was misinterpreting his fear over the other's driving for worry about his job. "But I'm not really concerned much about it today," he said. "This is mostly about introductions."

He put his hand on Feliciano's knee. "Time spent iwth you could hardly be called wasted," he said as he gave the man's leg a tiny squeeze. "Though I must say you drive a bit differently than I'm used to."

He glanced around for a place for Feliciano to park the car, so that his own creeping blood pressure could drop back down a bit.

Feliciano smiled as he felt Ludwig's hand on his leg, and then chuckled as he got the real reason behind the worry on his friend's face.

"Oh, I see~ Sorry for that!" he said half laughing, not too concerned about the matter. "Anyway, we've arrived!" he announced as he spotted a place in front of them. As he drove beside it, it became obvious that it wasn't an easy parking at all; even if the car was small, the space was hardly enough for it to fit in. There wasn't much choice in that road, though.

Feliciano whistled as he started to manoeuvre to park. It took time and a lot of turning the steering wheel, while a couple of drivers who had to stop to let him park protested vivaciously. Had Feliciano been his brother, he would have answered in the same kind way, but he didn't seem to care about the noise. He eventually stopped as he felt the car bump into something - the car parked behind, that is.

"Ah, it's just the bumper." he assured, but he jumped off the car to have a look, ignoring that it was parked all twisted and still half in the middle of the road. "No damage done~" he commented with relief.

Ludwig winced as he felt the car bump the one behind it. "Do you think you should let the other car's owner know you hit it?" he asked, the inner police officer in him insisting that Feliciano should do so. He knew a little of the laws regarding driving in the U.S. and he thought to himself that the chef's insurance must be astronomical.

He promptly got out of the car and went to assess the damage. Though it looked as though some paint--possibly plastic as well--had been transferred from one car to the other, it didn't seem as though any great damage was done. Though Feliciano had still hit the other vehicle and his parking job, if it could be called that, was shoddy at best, even excluding that he'd struck the other car.

"I don't know how difficult this will be for you to get off your car." Then he considered if the other drove this way all of the time, there might be similar marks elsewhere. He took a cursory glance to see if he spotted more like the one Feliciano had just put on his vehicle.

"Ah, I don't think it's a problem." he commented, waving his hand like he was saying it was nothing. "They won't even notice, probably!" he said, shrugging.

He looked around, none seemed to have noticed what happened, so he could go as if nothing had happened at all. And besides, he would be far enough from that place when the car's owner came back.

"Anyway, the Main Street is just over there~" he announced pointing at the end of the road, where it connected with a much wider and more crowded street. "Do you want me to come there with you?" he offered as well - although it wouldn't probably be recommendable, for him, to leave his car in such a way.

Ludwig sighed as he realized Feliciano really was going to leave the car there. He leaned forward to kiss him instead of lecturing him. "I should go on my own. You... take care of your car." He smiled down at the other man. "I will see you tonight. If not, I'll call you." He pulled out the phone he'd been given before traveling to the U.S. "I'll just get your number."

He looked at Feliciano expectantly.

Although he would have accompanied him gladly, the kiss was enough to keep him content, for now. "As you wish. And my car will be fine, don't worry~"

Feliciano was almost sure they had already exchanged their phone numbers the evening before, he still had the napkin with Ludwig's elegant writing in one of the pockets of his apron in the kitchen. But he man had probably left it int he hotel, or something, and anyway Feliciano surely didn't mind telling him his number again - there still was the slight probability that his own writing had been unintelligible for the blonde, he knew that.

He promptly told him the number, waiting for him to save it on the phone. "I honestly hope you won't use it to tell me you can't come to dinner, but call me if you have any problem, if you get lost or.. anything, really." he added with his brightest smile. "I'll be glad to help you!" he promised, waving his hand to greet him "Arrivederci~"

Ludwig wasn't normally the type to put personal information in business phones and computers, but he felt he could justify Feliciano as both. he preferred the idea of keeping Feliciano as a personal contact, however.

With a smile, he finished keying in the number. "I would like nothing more than to see you again tonight."

He kissed Feliciano on the cheek one last time before walking away to meet up with his new partner on main street.

"Auf Wiedersehen, Feliciano."

He leant on his car's side and watched as the other man walked away, enjoying each little piece of sight of Ludwig's back and shoulders until he finally disappeared in the crowd. He stood there for some long moments, staring at the point where he had just vanished, until he realized what he was doing.

He hurried back in his car and, with some luck, managed to get out of the parking. While driving home (even more caressly than usual, if possible), he thought about something special he could put in that evening's menu.