googoodreamers asked: Soooo... I was watching The Lion King 2 - and I was always thinking that Kiara and Kovu are a lion version of Feli and Ludwig! Could you write something like that? I mean, them as lions who were suppose to be enemies but that... you know... are not xD
"My big brother told me to stay away from potato-eaters," Feliciano said. Ludwig crouched on the far side of the pool, watching him carefully. "He said they'd eat anything—even me!"
Ludwig could tell that Feliciano is very young, much like himself; he still had his cub spots. Swallowing the muddy water, Ludwig called back.
"Technically speaking, I have never heard of a potato, so I am unable to verify whether I would or do eat them."
Feliciano laughed—for a horrifying instant, Ludwig was afraid that he was on the verge of splashing across the oasis and waking up the crocodiles, but, at the last moment, a stray bit of fluff on the air distracted him. Ludwig crept over, hoping that he could explain to his own big brother that he'd merely wanted to not incite the young heir to Roma's throne into plunging headlong into death.
They met many times at the watering hole. At first, they would just talk. Feliciano's part of the savannah was quite different from his own, and Feliciano painted beautifully detailed landscapes with his words. Ludwig wanted to see the Pride Lands. He wanted to see more of Feliciano. He wanted all of his days to be spent listening to the wild imagination and broad, open heart that had welcomed him without question.
He couldn't. Ludwig knew that. But, for a few hours at a time, he could pretend.
They were caught just past adulthood, after a lifetime of friendship. Roma had passed on, and Lovino had been keeping a closer eye on Feliciano's wanderings—he tore into Ludwig with claws, teeth, and—most painful of all—derisive words. How unfit he was to be in Feliciano's company. How filthy and tasteless and disgusting he was—how his breath reeked and his fur was moldy—how Feliciano could never love a lion so mangy and emotionless.
Ludwig waited it out. He'd been through worse. He knew that anything worth his time was worth a bit of grief; for Feliciano, he would lie down at the foot of a wildebeest herd and wait. For Feliciano, he would listen and learn and think of things that went against everything he had ever been told.
Many years later, Ludwig and Feliciano were curled in a cool, dark cave.
"Dad! Papa! It's almost daytime! Come on, wake up!"
"Your son's awake," Ludwig murmured. Feliciano chuckled.
"Before sunrise, he's your son."