"I can't believe we're actually here!" Feliks cried, looking around at the lights of Times Square. He had always wanted to go to New York City, mostly because of the fashion and the sights, but while they were on Christmas vacation, he thought, Well, why not go to celebrate the New Year as well! He had basically dragged his best friend, Toris, all the way from their university in Vilnius to America, but he knew his Lithuanian friend was excited. Who wouldn't be? The energy was palpable.
"I can't believe it either," Toris said, eyes wide as he spun around slowly, taking in all the people. "It's like a party out here!"
"Of course it is, Liet," he giggled, using Toris's old childhood name that Feliks had come up with himself. "It's a new year! A new life!"
"Not quite," murmured Toris, but not pessimistically. It was simply a note taken at the bottom of the page, and Feliks was busy reading the last paragraph of 2013.
"Don't be such a downer," he commented, though he wasn't paying much attention. They weren't at the front, and it was much too crowded to push through everyone, but Feliks didn't take it to heart. They could still see the ball from where they stood, and he couldn't wait till it dropped. If all these people came here to see it for that specific reason, it must be iconic.
Feliks laughed at the thought. "Ball drop. It sounds so sexual, doesn't it, Liet?"
Toris sputtered, letting out a short chuckle in surprise, his breath visible in the cold winter air. "I guess it does."
Suddenly, warm laughter was heard beside them, and both the Pole and the Lithuanian turned to see two men standing with their backs against the building. It was clear to Feliks that they were brothers (or at least somewhat related), but one looked happy and passionate while the other gazed into the crowd of people with a slight frown and serious expression. The man almost reminded Feliks of Toris, only this guy was much hotter with muscles that made the Pole want to ask if he could carry him back to his bed and show him what else he could do with his strength. Feliks almost burst out in laughter at his thoughts, but then he remembered the other man next to Mr. Hottie that was probably laughing at something he said.
"What are you laughing at?" Feliks asked accusingly, a mocking smile on his face. He was proud of himself, really. He was still shy around most strangers, but when it came to defending himself, he was getting better at being bold. Toris taught him how, even though he still couldn't understand why the Lithuanian couldn't use his own advice to ask out the beautiful Belarusian bombshell that also attended their school.
"Just what you said about the ball dropping, amigo," the other man said with a smile, and Feliks nodded, though not because of what he said. He mentally checked off "Spaniard." He wondered if Mr. Hottie was also Spanish. Nationality is such a pesky thing, he thought to himself, remembering how the Belarusian at their school was a sister to a Russian and a Ukrainian.
Feliks gathered up his nerve and spoke. "Where are you two from?" he asked conversationally. He smiled and cast a sideward glance at Toris, asking him silently to play along. Toris looked at Mr. Hottie and then back at Feliks, nodding subtly. He almost grinned. That was how well he and Toris knew each other. The Lithuanian already memorized Feliks's type. He liked them mysterious and masculine and muscular. The "3 M's," as Feliks liked to call them when checking out guys.
"I am from Spain, and my brother here is from Portugal," the Spaniard answered cheerfully, his tan cheeks red from the cold air and from smiling. "I'm Antonio, and he's Joaquim."
"I like your name," Feliks said to Mr. Hottie- no, Joaquim. He flashed what he hoped was a cute smile, and batted his eyes slightly. He didn't want to come off as too obvious. Also, it was kind of hard to bat his eyes when he was shivering slightly and shaking nervously. Thankfully, though, it wasn't too noticeable that he was nervous, because Toris hadn't told him yet. They had a deal that Toris would tell him whenever it became obvious that Feliks was nervous, which was when he was shaking so much that he began stuttering. He only stuttered around strangers. But Mr. Hottie was a weird stranger. A mysterious, masculine and muscular one. One that Feliks wouldn't mind doing some naughty things with while waiting for the ball to drop.
The corner of Joaquim's lips lifted into a smile that could probably also be classified as a smirk, but Feliks caught the sparkle in the Portuguese man's eyes that told him that he wasn't being cruel about it.
"Thank you, amigo," Joaquim said, nodding once at him slightly, the smile gone from his face, although a ghost of it remained. Feliks almost let out a squeal at the gorgeous accent. Portuguese is so exotic! He could feel his heartbeat in his ears.
Ever since Feliks was young, he'd always imagined meeting someone in a foreign place, and then falling in love. He'd always imagined it, but he never thought it would happen because he'd always been too shy around strangers to feel any connection with them. But this one, here, was different. This time, he was able to get over his shyness and talk. It was almost as though his slight social anxiety was swept away, only to be left with a nervousness that was typical when meeting new people, and a nervousness that included the racing of the heart and the sweating of the palms. A nervousness that he only felt when he had a crush.
But a crush on a stranger? A crush on someone so far from his home in Warsaw and his university in Vilnius? It was so… weird. But maybe it was meant to be.
It was like a dream, to meet in the beginning of a new year. The beginning of a new dawn in his life. It could be lust, just an attraction to his looks, but one look at Joaquim's smile made Feliks decide something deep down in his mind. He wanted to see it again. Not just because it made him more handsome (after all, he was Mr. Hottie). But because he wanted to be the reason his lips curved up into that small, smirking smile, the reason why his eyes sparkled when it was dark except for the city lights.
"Feliks? Feliks?"
Suddenly, Toris's worried face appeared in front of his. Feliks blinked and looked at his friend, confused.
"What?"
"You were staring at him," Toris whispered, jerking his head toward Joaquim, who was looking at him with an amused expression. Beside him, Antonio was concentrating on his phone, and probably didn't even notice that Feliks had been staring at his brother.
Feliks blushed and began to look down at his feet when he remembered that he couldn't revert back to his old ways. This was Joaquim, a Portuguese stranger that made him almost forget his shy ways (and with time, would probably make him forget altogether), and he was going to show that he wasn't just shy. He could be confident and flirty, and now that Feliks thought of it, he could be confident and flirty enough to get a kiss out of Joaquim at midnight. It was apparently a New Year's tradition in America.
He would be taking full advantage of it. He would not give up now. So what if Joaquim had caught him staring? It was embarrassing, but at least now the Portuguese man probably knew that he wanted him. And by midnight, Feliks would make sure Joaquim wanted him.
He flipped his blond hair at Toris and laughed. "Of course I was, Toris. Why wouldn't I be?" He winked at Joaquim, whose eyes widened microscopically (and yes, Feliks did notice- it was a merit of staring) before that smile returned to his face. This time, it was definitely more of a smirk.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were flirting with me…" Joaquim trailed off, raising an eyebrow expectantly. Feliks knew what he wanted.
"Feliks Łukasiewicz, from Poland," he answered proudly, taking a strand of his blond hair and twirling it around in what he hoped to be a cute manner.
"And you came to see the ball drop?" he asked, and Feliks grinned.
"That, and to see all that New York has to offer. They say it's the city that never sleeps," said Feliks, his own grin turning into a smirk. Beside him, Toris cleared his throat and looked away from what was obviously becoming a two-man conversation only. Antonio was still texting on his phone, but a lovely smile appeared on his face and he momentarily stopped to lean his head back against the building before resuming his texting. Joaquim didn't look too bothered by the fact that his brother was still beside him, and Feliks decided to ignore the fact that Toris was slightly uncomfortable. He'd survive. And maybe get a few ideas of how to approach Natalia, the Belarusian.
"Indeed," was all Joaquim had to say about that, but Feliks wasn't discouraged. They could always find more to talk about.
"So, where do you live?" Feliks asked casually, but inside, he was bursting at the seams with curiosity and excitement.
"Lisboa," Joaquim answered simply, and he smiled slightly back at him. "What about you?"
"I'm from Warsaw, but I'm currently living in Lithuania with Toris here. We go to Vilnius University," said Feliks, tilting his chin up just a bit with pride. It was, after all, one of the oldest schools in Northern Europe, and the oldest in the Baltic states. Although he wasn't from the Baltics himself, he was still proud to go to the school.
"I've been to Warsaw once, with Antonio. It's a beautiful city," Joaquim remarked, the smile still on his face. Feliks's own smile-turned-smirk-turned-smile grew wider.
"But not as beautiful as me, right?" Feliks asked, batting his eyes again and tilting his head to the side slightly for a cutesy look. Next to him, Toris choked on his own breath, and Antonio's eyes widened comically as he looked up from his phone.
"How could it even compare to you?" And then the most gorgeous, flirtatious smile was on his face, and Feliks had to stop himself from taking those one or two steps to reach Joaquim and kiss him hard. He would've if it weren't for Toris and Antonio, who both looked disturbed, but not disgusted, which was good.
"How about we go find a bathroom, amigo?" Antonio asked Toris, who quickly agreed and let out a sigh of relief as he moved from Feliks's side. "We'll be back in a few minutes, hermano. Feliks."
"We'll be right here," Joaquim said, chuckling, and then he turned back to Feliks. Antonio pulled Toris with him over to the doors that lead inside the building, and they both disappeared from Feliks's view. But it didn't really matter at this point in time.
"You're too kind," Feliks said, picking up on their conversation and smiling widely as Joaquim laughed again.
"Or I'm telling you exactly what you want to hear," he said, amused, and Feliks pouted playfully.
"I'd like to believe both," said Feliks, and inside, he marveled at how easy this was. It came so naturally to flirt with this man.
"You're lucky that it's both," Joaquim said, looking at him fondly, and Feliks danced triumphantly in his mind.
"I am, aren't I?" he asked, his voice lowering slightly as he looked up (but thankfully, not too far up) at the Portuguese man through his lashes.
Joaquim let out a ragged breath, an almost silent laugh as he met Feliks's gaze. He leaned closer, and Feliks had to fight to keep his sultry gaze and not let a huge grin onto his face. He tilted his head up, excited to finally taste those smiling-smirking lips and run his hands through that brown hair with a short ponytail at the nape of his neck, when suddenly Toris and Antonio were back, looking slightly guilty that they had interrupted his and Joaquim's moment.
"We're back," Antonio said, smiling weakly. Toris looked like he was a deer caught in headlights.
"Welcome back," Joaquim greeted sarcastically, looking slightly annoyed, though he quickly reverted back to his usual expression, disinterested and frowning.
Feliks backed away slightly, annoyed that their moment had been ruined. Now, he couldn't stop the embarrassed red flush from spreading across his face, and he just noticed how loud it truly was around them. When he and Joaquim were talking, it was like the rest of the world, besides Toris and Antonio, had faded into the background. It should've been hard to hear Joaquim talking with all the noise around them, all the music and cheering, but his ears just listened harder, and he barely heard anything else but that voice with the Portuguese accent that was totally gorgeous to Feliks.
"It's almost midnight," Toris said quietly from beside him. Feliks whirled around to look at the ball before looking back at his friend. "In five minutes, maybe."
"Maybe what?" asked Feliks, when suddenly he knew, and he grinned. All his disappointment faded, and he took a quick peek at Joaquim, who was looking over at Antonio's phone. Joaquim looked up briefly and let a small smile onto his face before looking back down at the phone.
"You know what I'm talking about," said Toris, and he smiled encouragingly and gave him a thumbs-up. Feliks felt blessed once again that the Lithuanian was his friend. And he felt blessed that he'd met Joaquim and Antonio, because he had a feeling that he'd be seeing more of them. Especially Joaquim. He and Toris were planning on staying another three days in New York before flying back to Vilnius, and maybe Joaquim and Antonio would be staying for a few days, too.
"It's starting! Look, hermano, it's starting!" Antonio cried excitedly, snapping Feliks out of his thoughts.
"We didn't even get to pay much attention to the music and the other festivities," said Toris, a regretful expression on his face.
Feliks patted his shoulder reassuringly. "It doesn't matter, we can always come back next year, or search it on the Internet." And then he winked. "Besides, I found something much more interesting than music." Joaquim, the Portuguese stranger.
Toris laughed. "Of course. I'm just glad you enjoyed."
"And I will even more in about fifteen seconds," Feliks said, grinning suggestively.
"TEN, NINE, EIGHT-" everyone started shouting, and Feliks turned to Joaquim, who was counting but in a normal tone of voice. They locked eyes for a second before looking to the colorful ball above them. "SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO-" Feliks felt the next number on his tongue slide through his lips and get lost in the air as he was suddenly pulled from where he was standing, only to look up into ocean blue eyes as a collective "one" was shouted, and cheers erupting as the new year arrived. He would've cheered, but his lips were a bit preoccupied.
Joaquim's lips were on his before he could even let out a breath, and he felt his arms move involuntarily to wrap around his Portuguese stranger's neck, while Joaquim's wrapped around his waist, only to lift him up like he was weightless. His legs "popped" like the girl's leg in the Princess Diaries (yes, he watched that movie), like some fairytale kiss he'd always wanted but almost gave up the hope for in reality.
It was quite magical.
And no, it wasn't Feliks's first kiss, and from what he was feeling and how Joaquim was kissing him, it definitely wasn't the Portuguese man's first kiss either, but even he knew it was the first kiss of many.
"New year, new life," he heard Toris say from somewhere near him, and he giggled into his and Joaquim's kiss, agreeing to his best friend's statement by kissing the other man harder.
Later on, as Feliks was lowered onto a soft bed with the most gorgeous man hovering above him, he was so, so happy that he ended last year and started this year on a good note.
Scratch that, a very good note. With a phone number and a plane ticket to Portugal.
I just thought of this pairing on a whim, and I think it's adorable. If you think you've seen this before, it's because you have, just a few hours ago or yesterday! I was going to make this a collection of one-shots and drabbles, but I don't seem to have much luck with them, unfortunately, so I'll be posting this separately, along with the rest of my future PortPol one-shots. Please review! It's greatly appreciated!
