"We have arrived in Rome, Italy..."

Ludwig opened his eyes and squinted at the bright sunlight streaming in from the small airplane window. He leaned forward to capture in the scene in front of his eyes. Endless blue skies and oceans had been replaced by buildings and roads. Ludwig smiled as he heard the thud of the wheels of the airplane making contact with the ground below, landing on the runway. He sucked in his breath as the plane stopped after a while. When the small light was turned off, he unbuckled his seatbelt and proceeded to retrieve his bags on the overhead compartment. After a while of waiting and lining up to get off the plane, he finally set foot on the ground of beautiful Italy.

Home.

He inhaled the air around him and smiled. He slowly made his way to get his luggage and get out of the arrival gate. He looked around, trying to spot the small brunette boy with that one curl that just won't sit still.

Nothing.

People were all around him, adults, children, elders, pets, but no sign of the small brunette anywhere.

Maybe he wandered off the find pasta again?

Ludwig smiled to himself at the thought and decided to go look for him in the car park. Once he stepped out of the airport, cold air greeted him and he shivered. With his free hand that was not holding his bags; he wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck.

It's been 4 months since he last seen Feliciano.

Ludwig was a writer you see, and this time he was assigned to write a book about several countries of the world, which required him to fly here and there, 3 to 4 countries in a week. He was thrilled to get assigned to this but when he thought about the fact that he will be leaving Felicano for a long long time, his heart ached a little. He tried to reject the job but Feliciano disagree and supported him, saying that it's his job and he need to do that. So with a heavy heart, he left.

Once he left, he left.

Without a call, or any messages, or even an e-mail, Ludwig disappeared just like that for 4 long months. Feliciano was dying to call him, to write to him but he knows that once Ludwig starts working, no one is allowed to disturb him, and it would add to the stress Ludwig is having. So every time Feliciano held the phone in his hand and dialed the second number of Ludwig's cell, he'd hang up and tried to distract himself with housework or pasta.

Without Ludwig, the pasta tasted like air to Feliciano.

Ludwig also was dying to talk to Feliciano, dying to hold him in his arms, to kiss him, to make love to him but he was too far away. Hundred and hundred of miles away from him.

That night, that particular night he was sitting in the hotel room in Paris, looking at the lights on Eiffel Tower, with his laptop switched on in front of him, he couldn't get his head to function. He stared at the small machine and back at the tower, fingers positioned on the keys on the keyboard, wanting to write something, at least make some progress, but his mind was on something else, namely a certain brunette Italian who is always hungry for pasta and cuddles.

He blushed at that thought and walked out to the balcony of the room to clear his head, thinking maybe it could help him with his work. Once he stepped out to the small balcony, he saw an ice-cream seller, pushing his cart home from a long day of work. Upon the sight in from of him, the image of Feliciano that he was dying to get rid of reappeared in his head, making him a little dizzy. The time when he and Feliciano shared an ice-cream cone and it dripped on his hand, Feliciano helped him clean up by licking the sweet sticky substance on his fingers. He could still feel the small pink muscle on his hand.

Frustrated and missing Feliciano terribly, he shut off his laptop and climbed into bed.

Another night without any progress.

He'd seen a lot of things, a lot of people in his little trip. Foreign girls tried to hit on him and of course he'd reject, telling them he already had someone but the girls would not give up without knowing who that is or at least seeing a picture of his lover.

"Stupid women..."

Ludwig cursed under his breath while leaving the small bar.

Gott, he missed Feliciano.

Ludwig passed a couple holding hands while pushing a trolley in front of them. Maybe a pair of newlyweds on their honeymoon? Ludwig wished them luck in his heart and continued walking. He had once asked his boss if he could take Feliciano with him when he went for another job, but his boss turned that down, saying that it would cost a lot of money and if Ludwig did bring Feliciano along with him, he wouldn't get anything done. And we all know that.

Then Ludwig saw a small brunette man squatting on the side of the road, back facing him. Ludwig couldn't see his face, but he knew that the man is Feliciano because of that one curl of his.

Ludwig slowly approached him and noticed that Feliciano was looking at a box and inside the box was a cat and 4 kittens, mewing softly beside their mother. And they looked hungry.

"Aww you poor gatti... h'ai il cibo?"

Feliciano reached down and stroke one of the kitten's head and it purred.

"Feli..." Ludwig called; Feliciano tensed and turned his head around. When his brown eyes met Ludwig's beautiful blue ones, he screamed, jumped up and attacked him with kissed. Wrapping his arms around Ludwig's neck and his legs around his waist, he covered the bigger man's face with kisses as tears streamed down his face like two little waterfalls.

"Mi manci Ludwig! O Mio Dio, I miss you so much!" Feliciano cried and held on to him tightly, as if Ludwig would disappear if he loosens his grip on him.

"I miss you too liebe... I miss you too." Ludwig returned his kisses by circling his large arms around the tiny body clinging onto him like a koala.

"Four months! Four long months and do you know how hard it is to not see you for 4 months? I can't stand not seeing you for a day and now you're gone for 4 months! Oh Ludwig..." Feliciano laughed while he cried into Ludwig's coat, earning curious stares from passerbys. "But now you're back! And words can't describe how happy I am now that you're back... Please don't leave me ever again."

The German nodded and ran his slightly bigger palm down Feliciano's back, soothing him, comforting him. After a while of crying, Feliciano finally stopped and let go of Ludwig, planting his feet on solid ground and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.

"Let's go home Feli." Ludwig said, offering his hand to Feliciano.

The small Italian looked at the German's gloved hand and back to the box of cats. "Ludwig, do you love me?"

"Huh?" the German cocked his head to one side, shocked by the sudden question out of nowhere.

What does that has to do with going home?

"Do you?" Wide brown eyes stared at blue ones.

"Of course meine leibe."

"Then..." Feliciano squatted down and held up the box with the felines inside. "Can we keep them?"

Ludwig stared at the cats and back at Feliciano's puppy dog face, and boy what a cute puppy dog face that was, the tears from his crying just now really added to the puppy dog eyes. "Can we? Luddy? Please?" Lips trembled as the cats mewed, as if begging Ludwig to take them in.

The blonde massaged his temples. Sure they could keep them but, Ludwig prefers dogs to be frank and cats are... not manly at all. Ludwig is manly and Feliciano is... well, as their Japanese friend Kiku said 'Kawaii'. Ludwig is not 'kawaii' at all, he is manly is hell, and having 5 cats at home is certainly not manly.

"Luddy?" Feliciano pleaded again, this time, a drop of tear falling from his cheek. "They'll starve if we left them here, or maybe freeze to death. Please Ludwig..."

"All right all right Feli, we can keep them but... keep them out of the bedroom ok?"

Feliciano jumped into the air with glee (and the cats in his hands which miraculously did not fall out of the box from his jumping). "Grazie Ludwig!" he stood on tiptoes and kissed Ludwig on the jaw.

"Ja ja..." Ludwig blushed, "Let's go."

Feliciano guided Ludwig to the car parked not far away from where they were a moment ago while chattered on and on about naming the cats.

"Neh, Ludwig, I want to name the mother 'Sterlina', you know, star in Italiano because she has a star shaped thingie on her stomach, I think it's a birthmark... Do cats have birthmarks Ludwig?"

"I don't know Feli..."

"Never mind then, the small one over here I want to name him after fratello, Lovi! Do you think fratello would like that? He looks a little like fratello, with that grumpy looking little face... don't you think?"

"Ja..."

"And this one... maybe after nonno Roma, so Roma it is! And this one, she has blue eyes like you Luddy, can I name her after you? Luddy? Or should I name her Lucy... because it's more feminine... or should I..."

Listening to the small Italian's chattering and constant weird questions along the car ride home, made Ludwig realized that, he, Ludwig Beilschmidt is probably the luckiest man on earth, with 5 cats, but still manly as hell.

Ludwig Beilschmidt from Germany met the Italian Feliciano Vargas because of a misunderstanding (a beautiful misunderstanding.)

Ludwig got out of the grocery store, holding bags of sausages and cheese in his hands. Happy with the things he bought, he decided to go back home and make something delicious to spend that night, maybe watching football while eating the stuff he made with ice cold beer he stored in his fridge while screaming at the players.

Then, he noticed a noisy crowd in front of him, pointing at the rooftop of a building and talking. Curiously, Ludwig looked up and saw something, no, someone standing at the edge of the building, without any safety measurement and was dangerously close to the edge. Just standing there like he was going to jump off at any second.

"Someone call the fire brigade, the police, the ambulance, something!" a middle aged woman screamed frantically in fast Italian that Ludwig, after staying in this country for almost a year could understand. He whipped out his cell and dialed the number to all three of the stations the woman mentioned. After calling, he dumped the bags he was holding on the pavement nearby, not caring if someone would stole them away, and with the instinct of an ex-fireman he dashed up the building to persuade the person to come down. Maybe talk some sense into him and stop him from ending his life just like that.

When he reached the top, he was panting and sweating, despite the cold November air. He got close to the person in front of him, standing dangerously close to the edge with his arms wide open and eyes closed. His hair fluttering in the wind and one particular curl stuck out of his head.

Slowly, Ludwig got closer to him and called out to him.

"Hey! Mister! It's dangerous out there, come back in!" Ludwig said in his professional fireman voice. It's been a long time since he quitted that job and became a travel writer so he didn't quite remember if he's doing that right thing.

The person turned around and looked at him with warm brown eyes. "I know that." he replied shortly.

Angel.

There was an angel on the edge of the building, except this one doesn't has a golden halo and wings. The man was beautiful, porcelain like skin and beautiful beautiful eyes. Ludwig could feel his heart beating faster, from the fear of this lovely angel in front of him jumping off and from the beauty of him.

"Well it's nice that you know but could you please come down? It's really dangerous and I'm sure whatever you've been through doesn't need to be solve by jumping off a building. Committing suicide is never the answer!"

The person looked at him, amused with his words. "Who in the world told you that I'm committing suicide? I have a good life ahead of me and why should I end it? Silly guy..." he laughed.

"Then... why are you doing such dangerous thing?" Ludwig asked, ever so slowly approaching him, maybe he could grab his legs if he really jumped down, that's what Ludwig thought.

"Because," the person said, spreading his arms once again and turned around in a circle using his tip toes, scaring Ludwig half to death.

"I want to know how it feels like to be a bird."

"It's really nice up here no?"

Ludwig nodded and tried not to look down. His legs had turned into jelly and he could not understand how this that person could stand the height of this place.

After chatting with him for a while, Ludwig understood what made him do such things and he decided to accompany him. Who knows one day that he lost his balance and fell down to his death? Ludwig could be here to help him.

Fire engines and firemen appeared not long after and were starting to blow up the soft cushiony thing to reduce the momentums of their falls if it really happened.

"Ve, what's your name?"

Ludwig looked at the source of the voice and saw him smiling back.

"Ludwig. Ludwig Beilshcmidt."

"Oh, what a nice name. I'm Feliciano Vargas. But people usually call me Feli. Can I call you Luddy?"

"O-Of course."

"Ve~ that's great."

They stayed silent for a while, Ludwig watching the people down there rushing around, creating a loud mess while he himself was feeling dizzy from the height.

"Do you like birds, Ludwig?" Feliciano asked suddenly.

"I-I guess. Why?"

"I love birds. Not as much as I love cats, but birds are my second favorite, you know why?"

Ludwig shook his head no and continued to listen to this crazy man talk.

"Because they're special. They can fly. Well, that's the main reason I like them. The other reason is that they can go places like, they can just fly away. If they don't like this place, they can just fly. Flap those little wings and they're off. Easy as that. They are free. Except for the ones in cages. I never like the idea of caging animals; I think it's cruel and inhuman. I don't really like circuses and zoos too. Animals belong to the wild, not cages. And animals are not toys, you can't just train them into doing stupid tricks or locking them up to make people go 'ooh' and 'aah' for money. It's just mean, no?"

Ludwig just nodded in agreement. The wind was really cold today, and unusually strong. It feels like it'd blow them down from the edge of the building anytime.

"I want to be a bird. Ve, Ludwig, I want to be a bird after I die. Not those stupid ones that can't fly like a chicken or an ostrich. Ostriches are cool, but they can't fly. But they are cute. I would want to be an eagle, or a vulture. Pretty creepy, no? I'd be feeding on carcasses and scaring people. I'd like that. What about you Ludwig?"

"I think I'd like to be a blanket." Unsure of what he's suppose to say, he blurted out the first things that's in his head, his pink fluffy blanket that he sleeps with ever since he was small. Feliciano laughed. "Why?"

"Because you don't need to do anything as a blanket. You just keep people warm and make them feel comfy, that's all." He shrugged.

"I'd like you to be my blanket." Feliciano said suddenly, looking at the clouds drifting by. "You'd make a nice blanket, Luddy." He added, smiling at him.

Ludwig felt a shiver ran down his spine. Feliciano, the way he said his name, there was something special about it. Maybe it's the way he rolls his tongue when he says it or maybe it's his surprisingly sexy Italian accent. Ludwig wasn't sure. All he knew was that he's developing some feelings for this man in front of him. He felt like holding him and listening to him talk nonsense for the whole day, or just, like Feliciano said, be his blanket to keep him warm.

"I made potato salad, and wurst, and also..."

"Pasta." Ludwig said with a smile as he smelt the familiar smell of pasta coming from the kitchen. Feliciano's face lighted up and he nodded. "Si! You're so clever Ludwig!"

"Magic." Ludwig pressed a kiss on Feliciano's forehead.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour or so, and Luddy, can you feed the kittens for me? Per favore. Grazie!" The Italian giggled and dissapeared back into the kitchen.

Ludwig stared at the box of cats, not knowing what to do.

What should he feed them with... cats eat fish, nein?

And they also drink milk, nein?

There's still milk left in the fridge, nein?

The blonde sighed and crouched down, looking at the mother in the eyes.

"What would you like to eat you furball."

Meow.

"Would you like some of the wurst Feli made?"

Meow.

"What about some pasta? Feliciano makes the best pasta in the world."

Meow.

"Or would you like some milk?"

Meow meow.

Feliciano came out from the kitchen and laughed when he saw his German boyfriend talking to the cats he just adopted. "Silly Ludwig, cats can't talk." he said, removing the apron from his waist and draping it on the back of the chair.

"Do cats eat human food?" the German asked, touching one of the kittens behind the ears. The kitten purred.

"Like what?"

"Wurst."

"No, I don't think so." Feliciano laughed while shaking his head. "We have milk in the fridge. I think that's fine. I'll go get it now."

Ludwig nodded and watched his little boyfriend disappeared into the kitchen once again.

He turned his attention back to the cats.

…

"Remember how we met?"

"Mhmm."

"How?"

"We met on top a dangerously tall building. No, on the edge of a dangerously tall building."

Feliciano giggled and kissed Ludwig's chest, the spot just below his heart. They were lying in bed, they just had some mind blowing love making session. It was their first time. They lost their virginity to each other. Feliciano had his head on Ludwig's chest and Ludwig had his arms around his smaller boyfriend.

"And?"

"I thought you were going to jump, so I went up there to rescue you."

"Silly Ludwig."

"Ja... I know. If I didn't rush up there, we wouldn't have met."

"Say... do you think I'm crazy?" Feliciano asked all of a sudden, looking into Ludwig's blue eyes.

"Why?"

"Just asking. Do you?"

"A little. I thought you were someone who escaped from the mental institution." Ludwig chuckled as Feliciano punched him lightly in the arm. "Meanie."

"Danke."

They lay there in silent, enjoying each others' presence. Then Ludwig noticed Feliciano's weird curl and curiously, he gave it a pull.

Electric shock ran down Feliciano's spine and he gave out a small moan. Ludwig raised his eyebrow and gave it a few more pulls. Feliciano was trembling against his chest now, breathing heavy.

"Feli? What's wrong?"

Pull.

"L-Ludwig... ngh... do-don't..."

Pull.

"Why?"

"B-because..."

He looked down and squirmed. "I...uh..."

"You what?"

Pull.

"S-stop it... Ludwig.. please..."

Something hard was pressed up against Ludwig's thigh and his eyes widen in realization.

Ooh.

"You're aroused, ja?"

Feliciano nodded his head and gave a small moan. His grip on Ludwig's arm tighten and he was squirming.

"P-per f-f-favore... Ludwig..."

"Second round it is then." the German smirked and pulled him into a mind blowing kiss.

…

The dishes were loaded in the dishwasher, the cats were fed and sound asleep. The couple were sitting side by side on the couch, watching some French movie that neither of them understand what the people in it were talking about. They only watched it because there were nothing good on the television except for that.

"I'm glad you're back." the Italian said, eyes fixed on the screen.

"I'm glad I'm back too." the German replied, taking a sip on his ice cold beer.

"I was so lonely without you. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, liebe."

Feliciano giggled and gave Ludwig a small kiss on the lips.

"It's been a long time." he said, eyes staring into Ludwig's.

"Ja."

"So... do you want to... you know..." his face turned red and he avoided Ludwig's amused eyes. Ludwig's hands slowly crept up his back and he shivered. The tall German slowly pulled the shorter Italian closer to him.

"Sure, why not?"

And with that, they engaged in a passionate liplock.

Random idea on one random day. I do not own Hetalia.