In retrospect, Feliciano probably could have picked a better time to ask than lunch. Especially since they were eating in a café, especially since Ludwig was never good at talking about these sorts of things, especially since, being in a café, they would be unable to properly discuss the subject- but it was really important that Feliciano ask now.

"Ludwig, do you want to have sex?"

See? It was really important! Because they'd been together for Feliciano-didn't-know-how-long- and Ludwig was great, he really was, and Feliciano loved him- but they'd never got farther than handjobs and Feliciano didn't know if he was shy or embarrassed or waiting until marriage or just didn't want to-

Though now, he was tending toward the first two, since Ludwig had gone pink and kind of bug-eyed and was spluttering a little.

"I- ah- Feli, this is not proper material for, ah, public discussion-" His ears were red and he was glancing around the café nervously, like he thought someone would be listening. And probably nobody was because they were all eating lunch and if they did overhear they'd definitely understand because this was really, really important!

"We don't have to talk about it right now but could you answer the question?" Ludwig hunched his shoulders and looked at his mostly-empty plate, but then he looked back up, into Feliciano's eyes, and said, "Um. Yes," very quietly.

"Oh, good!" chirped Feliciano. "Great! So, how about tonight?"

Ludwig was still blushing furiously. "I.. okay. Yes. Tonight is good."

"Great! We'll do it tonight, then," Feliciano said cheerily, turning his attention back to the remains of his meal.

Feliciano stared in confusion at the store shelf.

"Wow," he said eventually. "There's… a lot of choices, huh, Ludwig?"

"Mm." Ludwig had somehow maintained a constant state of constant low-level embarrassment the entire afternoon, but eyed the shelves critically. "We should probably get… silicon-based lubricant." Silence. "Well, that's what Gilbert told me, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't lying…"

"Francis said the same thing, yeah."

Ludwig looked incredulously at Feliciano and said, "You asked Francis?", which was a little unfair because Francis wouldn't get as mad at him as Lovino would have and probably knew more about it too, and he said as much.

"-and don't worry, he didn't do anything, he just pinched my cheeks and called me adorable a lot. Also he suggested this brand of condom," the brunet chattered, reaching for a box. "How was Gilbert, anyway?"

Ludwig shrugged a little, weighing two bottles of lube. "About as embarrassing as expected. I asked about what we'd need and he started laughing and patting me on the back., and then he started on about how 'his baby brother was finally becoming a man'."

"Huh."

"Then he made me sit down and gave me some suggestions, and he said to tell you that if one of us isn't unable to walk by tomorrow he'll write a will just to disown us." Ludwig appeared to have chosen a brand of lube. "Do we have everything?"

"I think so." Ludwig had already insisted that they were not going to the checkout together and he'd pay Feliciano his share later, which Feliciano thought was a little weird but he'd kind of expected it, knowing Ludwig.

This would all be a lot easier, Feliciano thought, if one of them knew where to start. As it was, he didn't, and Ludwig didn't, so here they were, sitting on the bed, facing each other in their underwear.

"Um." Ludwig scratched at the back of his head.

"So." Feliciano exhaled slowly, puffing out his cheeks.

"Should I…" Ludwig trailed off and ran a hand through his hair, which was down and ungelled for once, and Feliciano decided that probably kissing was a good place to start. He scooted forwards and leaned up into a soft kiss, and Ludwig returned it after an initial pause, tentatively placing his hands on Feliciano's back. Heartened, Feliciano rested a hand on the back of Ludwig's neck and slipped his tongue into Ludwig's mouth, almost innocuously dropping his other hand onto the German's thigh. And Feliciano was not going to give him time to tense up, so he dug one foot into the bed and pushed until the pair toppled over and landed with a "fwump" sound.

The Italian still wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this- well, he knew where he wanted to go, the problem was getting there- but now at least they were both lying down, and that was a start, right?

(Actually, Francis had said you didn't have to be lying down, you could be sitting up or bending over or standing or even upside down, but then he'd started looking very far away and Feliciano had gotten a little worried.)

The pair were still kissing, and somehow the kisses had become harder and sloppier, and Feliciano wasn't sure how they'd gotten that way but it was good, Ludwig was a great kisser even if he did get embarrassed about it. Except Ludwig wasn't kissing him anymore, he'd pulled away and was not quite looking at Feliciano, and his cheeks were flushed and his lips were kind of swollen, and when he said "Feli, you're- sure about this?" his voice was a little hoarse and the Italian couldn't help kissing him again.

"Of course I am, Ludwig," he smiled once the kiss had broken. And Feliciano was, even if he wasn't sure of some things right now, but he did want to do this. And when Ludwig smiled a little and said "Then we should probably remove our undergarments," flushing so hard it was almost luminescent (and the red had spread down his neck and across his chest), Feliciano grinned so widely it almost hurt and wriggled out of his boxers faster than he'd ever done before.

By the time Feliciano had kicked his boxers a suitable distance away, Ludwig had shoved his own down his legs, and by the time Ludwig's were completely off Feliciano sprawled between his legs, holding Ludwig's face in his hands and rubbing circles along his strong cheekbones. Feliciano pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose before dragging a hand down between their bodies and making them both groan.

After a little while of moving his hand up and down their lengths (Ludwig had reached one down as well, his other rested on Feliciano's waist as if he wasn't quite sure where to put it) the brunet pulled back from where he'd been mouthing along Ludwig's throat and softly said "You ready?" He watched as Ludwig's hand stilled and his Adam's apple bobbed, and Feliciano cautiously waited.

Ludwig finally nodded sharply and said "I think so, yes," and all the nervousness that Feliciano thought hadn't been there in the first place rushed into his stomach and threatened to make his arms give out, and he valiantly attempted to squish it.

"Sit up a little then, please?" Feliciano reached for the lubricant on the nightstand, by some miracle his voice not shaking. The German complied, shuffling up against the headboard and still not quite meeting Feliciano's eyes. Uncapping the lube, the Italian squeezed some out onto his fingers- wait, how much would he need? Probably a lot- and then stopped cold.

How was he supposed to do this?

For all his considerable knowledge, Francis had not elaborated a lot upon preparation, and Feliciano knew that you sort of- stuck your fingers in your partner and wiggled them around, and that didn't sound very comfortable at all. But Francis had also said that you had to do it or else it'd hurt a lot. So Feliciano took a very deep breath, swallowed, and said "Uh, Ludwig, I- I'm going to put my fingers in, so you have to relax, all right?"

The blond inhaled deeply and nodded, inching his legs apart, and Feliciano carefully, slowly pushed a finger inside.

It was weird- weird and tight and warm, and Ludwig tensed up around the finger. Feliciano did not fail to notice this, or the way his light eyebrows scrunched together and his long fingers tangled in the bedsheets, and patted him on the inside of his thigh.

"Hey, shh- it's okay, it's all right, you're doing great," even though Feliciano wasn't quite sure if that was how you calmed people down when you were doing this, but Ludwig breathed out shakily and relaxed anyway. His breathing roughened when Feliciano experimentally crooked the finger, but the Italian smiled at him and rubbed again at the inside of his thigh and said again how well he was doing, it was okay, they could stop if he wanted but he was doing so well and I'm going to put another one in, is that okay, Ludwig?

Ludwig nodded.

Feliciano slid the second finger in, holding as still as he possibly could until Ludwig breathed out an "okay", and then began to move them, stretching-

And Ludwig winced and hissed sharply, and Feliciano froze solid.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, did I hurt you? I-"

"N-no, it's fine, just- be more careful please?" Feliciano nodded and returned to the stretching, slowly, until Ludwig was rocking his hips back a little, and his fingers curled up in the blankets and his eyebrows weren't scrunched but sliding upwards. Feliciano was chewing on his bottom lip by now, but managed to say "Should I add another, or are you ready?"

Ludwig licked his thin lips and stayed very red, finally saying, "I- ah- a third couldn't hurt," and Feliciano obeyed, spreading them apart and wriggling them, stilling when Ludwig made discomforted noises (or noises in general, because under certain circumstances ow and oh do sound rather alike) until the German made a valiant attempt to fully meet his eyes and said, "I think, um, I think I'm ready."

Nerves curling again in his stomach, Feliciano pulled his fingers out- too quickly, Ludwig grimaced a little and Feliciano quickly apologized- and reached for the condoms. He managed to locate one and open it with relatively little complications.

"Wh- ah- sorry, it's kind of slippery-"

Ludwig reached forward and attempted to help him. "No, it's okay- wait, are you sure this is the right way around?"

"Yeah, I think I've got it- okay, I've got it." Feliciano rolled the condom on the rest of the way, took a very deep breath, and looked straight at Ludwig. "Ludwig, are you ready?"

"Y-yes. You?"

"Yes." Feliciano took another deep breath, swallowed hard, and tried to guide himself in.

It was more difficult than he'd thought- if he tried to look at Ludwig's face to check how he was doing, he couldn't see what he was doing, and if he looked down so he wouldn't miss, he couldn't tell if Ludwig liked it or not, and settling for the middle ground and looking at Ludwig's chest was a nice view but completely unhelpful- but then Ludwig laced his fingers with Feliciano's and gave them a quick, gentle squeeze, and then Feliciano had somehow managed to push in, so he looked up at Ludwig's face and held still until his eyes weren't squeezed shut and his mouth wasn't pressed into a thin line. It was difficult- Ludwig was tight and warm and felt so good, but the Italian held still, even though he shook a little from the effort.

"I- mh- can I move?" Ludwig nodded and Feliciano began moving haltingly. He wasn't a very good multitasker but he mouthed along Ludwig's lips and jaw and throat while he thrust, and Ludwig panted and rocked his hips up and dug his nails into Feliciano's back, which kind of hurt but it was also kind of hot.

They never did establish a definite rhythm, and Feliciano did have to slow and stop whenever Ludwig winced, but he was doing that a lot less now and Feliciano thought oh wow I see why people do this and nipped at the place where Ludwig's neck met his shoulders.

Feliciano pushed himself up onto his forearms, because as much as he liked being close to Ludwig he was worried he'd headbutt the German's chin if he stayed like he had been, and pushed further into Ludwig and- oh God he was close-

And he must have gotten something right, the angle, the speed, something, because Ludwig let out a moan (which was rare enough as it was), and in it Feliciano caught "God" and "there" and Ludwig made this face and tightened-

And Feliciano came, far sooner than he wanted to, and let his head drop and his fingers curl in the bedsheets and his hips keep moving shallowly. His arms gave out soon after- Feliciano's upper body strength wasn't great at the best of times, and especially not now- and he spent a second collapsed on Ludwig's chest, panting.

After a moment, the Italian lifted his head up and mumbled, "Should I- ah-" and Ludwig whispered "please" and his eyes slid shut while Feliciano slid his hands down Ludwig's sides and between his legs.

They kissed again, slow and warm and wet, and Ludwig came with a buck into Feliciano's hand and a groan of "ah, God" into his mouth.

Feliciano was tired, and his hands were messy and sticky as he rolled off the condom. Probably he should wash them, he reflected, but that would require standing up, and that wasn't happening anytime soon. So instead he flopped onto Ludwig's chest, drawing an "oof" from them both, and nuzzled into Ludwig's collarbone.

"Did you like it?" he asked eventually, voice hoarse.

"You were wonderful, Feli." Ludwig's voice rumbled in his chest, the way it always did when he was sleepy, and one of his hands had settled in Feliciano's damp, curly hair. The Italian yawned a little.

"'S good." He yawned again. "Um…"

"Yes?" Ludwig cracked an eye open.

"Do you want to do it again? Well, not now, but, um, soon?" The one blue eye darted away, but Ludwig said "Yes, I do" anyway and took a deep breath.

Feliciano "mm"ed and trailed his fingers along Ludwig's opposite shoulder. They lay in silence for a little while longer.

"Ah, Feli?" The Italian "mm"ed again in response. "I think we should take a shower." Feliciano grumbled halfheartedly into Ludwig's neck, but let Ludwig pull him upright anyway.

Through a concerted group effort, the pair managed to haul themselves into the shower and rinse off before falling back into bed. Feliciano shot under the covers- it was cold, and the shower just made it colder, but Ludwig tugged the blankets up to their necks and draped an arm over him. Wriggling up Ludwig's front, Feliciano gave him a long kiss, wrapping his legs around Ludwig's and resting his hands on Ludwig's shoulders.

He had to break the kiss to yawn again, and let his head flop down on the pillows. Ludwig seemed about as tired as Feliciano felt, but it was kind of hard to tell from this distance since he kept going cross-eyed. So instead he wriggled as close to Ludwig as possible and listened to his chest rumble as he mumbled "Love you" into the top of Feliciano's head.

"Mn. Love you too." As Feliciano drifted off, he thought he heard a quiet, deep-voiced "Thank you," but he was asleep too quickly to respond.

In the morning, Ludwig froze in the middle of breakfast and said "Oh no, Gilbert's going to disown us," and Feliciano laughed and poured him some more coffee.