Sleeping Shirts:

Ludwig waits patiently, dusting lint from his flannel pyjama pants and tilts back slightly in his chair. On the right hand corner of his computer screen, his face is reflected back to him while the rest of the screen is taken up with a limited view of An'na's room. The dark wood of her bed's headboard, a few scattered blue pillows and a weird looking oversized stuffed penguin that she'd won in a fair. The only thing absent was the woman herself, but he is in no rush considering it's night where he is and early evening where she is.

This has been their daily mode of communication since she last visited him on his birthday. The only thing that made it remotely bearable is because he knows she will be home soon. Ludwig's eyes shift to the calendar on his desk, the current month is the biggest with previous days carefully marked out with a red marker. Over to the side of page is a smaller calendar of the up coming months. His eyes scroll four months down the page where a star has marked on the month she will be there. The day is uncertain because An'na hasn't booked her flight yet but that isn't important at the moment.

"Okay, I'm back," An'na's voices draws Ludwig's eyes from the black and white piece of paper back to the screen. "I tried to hurry up and change but then I had to use the toilet and, ugh, today was just so exhausting."

The German ignores his girlfriends 'tmi' moment of mentioning having to go the toilet in favour of another tiny problem. Blue eyes scrutinize carefully as he watches An'na situate herself properly into the space. She pushes her computer back so he has a better view and sits crossed leg in an oversized shirt. He doesn't say anything just yet, but watches, looking her over. He's glad to see her, of course but he does not exactly like this 'new' edition. Ludwig knows it must be new because he's never seen it before and he is quite sure his memory isn't so bad that he would forget something so obvious. Especially because when she does this, he has a rather nice view of her legs. Right now though, he's too distracted to even give her slightly exposed thighs more than a glance.

"Ludwig?" An'na calls him, a hint of worry in her voice as she tilts the screen upward now so he sees more of her face. Ludwig glances to the little screen in the corner and sees that his expression isn't exactly one of joy but of confusion. "Are you okay?"

"Ja," he answers, looks back up where he can see his girlfriend and, at length, finally reveals what's bothering him. "Whose shirt is that?"

An'na has a fascination with sleeping in shirts, both proper sleeping shirts and any oversized t-shirt that covers her. She also fancies sleeping in men's shirts, button-downs to be exactly, like the one she's currently wearing. Ludwig has seen some of the variety of shirts in her possession and can admit that he probably has not see every sleeping shirt she owns. This one, however, he is positive is new, mainly because he's seen all of the ones she brought with her to America, some of which he's seen a couple of times because she wears them so often.

This is not one of those shirts.

An'na looks down, tugs the shirt at its middle so that she can see it better, and then looks back up at him. "This is my shirt," she answers a bit confused by the question.

Ludwig sighs and rephrases the question. "Whose shirt was it?" And how long has it been yours? It is a question he's never asked before or considered asking until now. But seeing her in that shirt, a man's shirt, he couldn't help his own curiosity.

Her eyes go unfocused for a moment as she drops her arms and looks to the right before looking back to him and shrug. "I don't know. Is it one of yours?" She pushes the computer all the way back now, and then resituates herself on her tummy so now all Ludwig sees is the collar of a black shirt, the first few buttons undone and parts of the sleeves because of the way An'na's laying.

"That's not my shirt. You don't have one of my shirts," he answers smoothly and then added, "Are all of those shirts from a guy you knew?"

An'na kicks her feet up so they swing casually behind her head and gives him a childish sort of grin. "Why?"

Ludwig stiffens immediately because the question is a legitimate one without a clear answer. "I'm just curious," he tries and she snorts at his reply.

"Why so curious all of a sudden?" An'na challenges and picks at her nails, the sleeves of the shirt falling over itself because they are too long for her arms.

Ludwig thinks, and then admits, "Because I haven't seen you wear that shirt before."

"It was in my laundry basket." She justifies, seeming more amused than anything else about his questions.

"You share a laundrette?" Ludwig asks though he knows she does.

"Mhm,"

"Could it be someone else's shirt?" The German man ventures knowingly, shifting his position slight as his girlfriend looks up from her nails at him.

"You mean like…another guy's shirt?"

Ludwig can feel the tips of his ears going red and he averts his eyes to the little screen of him in the corner again. She's teasing him, he can see it in the way she's trying hard not to smirk and be as serious as he was. "Or female's shirt…" he mumbles, slightly embarrassed at having started this conversation.

He can see An'na moving again out of his peripherals and chances a look to see that she's sitting up again.

"Do you want me to take it off?" An'na's hands are already on the third button and the warmth that tickled Ludwig's ears spread down his neck and across his faces.

Yes, he does want her to take it off, in every respect. He doesn't like that shirt because even An'na doesn't know whom it belongs. Also, he's a man and she's his girlfriend who is offering to remove articles of clothing for him on camera. The temptation is too great. Ludwig averts his eyes quickly, covering his mouth and trying hard to think of something else because they haven't exactly gotten that far in their relationship. Is she even aware of what she just said?

"No, keep it on." He finally manages to crock out and is, quite honestly, afraid to look and see just how far she's gotten with those buttons.

"Are you sure?"

No. "Ja,"

An'na chuckles, "You can look Ludwig, I haven't done anything."

Ludwig chances a glance and, indeed, she's decent but smiling mockingly at his demeanour. That only makes the flush on his face spread and he's suddenly hotter than the temperature in his room. It isn't helping that An'na is sitting up on her knees now and he has a full view of that shirt that stops mid thigh. God he hates that shirt and whoever its previous owner was.

"I can change the shirt if it bothers you that much," An'na offers in all sincerity, sitting back on her feet now and looking down at the screen.

"I'm not bothered by the shirt," Well he kinda is but, "I just want to know who it's for or who it was for before you got it. "

"I see…" she trails off but Ludwig went on.

"It could be some random neighbour's shirt, your roommate's shirt, another guy's shirt. You don't know."

An'na winds her fingers together, a picture of awkwardness as she looks down and nods. "It could be another guy's shirt…"

Ludwig huffs at the realization.

"So it does bother." An'na accuses then.

"It doesn't," Ludwig immediately defends.

"You're jealous!"

"Of a sleeping shirt?"

"Yes," An'na stresses and folds her arms. "I'm taking it off."

The declaration is made without awaiting a rebuttal as she rolls off the bed and he's left, once again, with staring at her headboard and blue pillows. Ludwig sighs and frowns while he waits for her to return. He isn't jealous. He taps his fingers against his legs and waits patiently…but he isn't jealous.

An'na returns shortly after with a new, plain white shirt on and a smile on her face. "Better?" she asks him and there isn't even a hint of malice or sarcasm in her tone.

"I was fine," Ludwig states though his facial expression has significant softened.

"Mhm," An'na replies slyly and grabs a pillow. "So how was your day?"

The conversation continues on a much more normal note until Ludwig declares himself tired. They go to bed on a good terms and the mysterious shirt is long since forgotten about.

Two weeks later, Ludwig waits once again in front of his computer in his pyjamas for An'na to change from her work clothes. It's the familiar scene of the camera facing her headboard though her bed looks especially messy today.

"The most curious thing happened to me today," An'na yells from somewhere in the room though he still can't see her.

"What happened?" Ludwig asks, reaching for a nearly empty cup of water.

"I got home and found this package on my door," her voice draws closer and within a few seconds, she plops down on the bed coming in view of the screen in an achingly familiar black men's shirt, "Like by my room door not outside. The return address is missing but look what was inside." She tugs at the shirt and then looks at him.

Ludwig did look at the shirt before answering. "Someone sent you a shirt?"

"Well, there is other things in it as well but the shirt was on top." An'na states, "It reminds of me that other one."

"The one you found?" He asks as nonchalantly, toying with his now empty.

An'na nods then carries on with a hint of suspension, "Yes, the one I returned to the laundrette so it's rightful owner could claim it. Isn't that weird though, that someone would send such a similar shirt?"

"It is odd," Ludwig agrees coolly and looks at her.

"But,"

"But?"

"It's different somehow," she says curiously.

"In what way?" Ludwig asks, the perfect picture of innocent as he watches her muses it over.

An'na tugs at the already too long sleeves then brings her wrist up to her nose and sniffs. "Smells familiar." Then looks at him with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Really?" The German reaches over to place his cup on the desk but otherwise makes no movement or face expression to confirm or deny the underlying allegations.

An'na's eyes narrow further but her face is evidently amused. "Really…"

Ludwig simply nods, "That is different."

She tugs at the collar, pulling it forward then to the side as if to wrapper further around herself. An'na tilts her head down until her nose is buried into the material and Ludwig realizes that she's snuggling it. "…I think I'll keep this one."

He raises a curious brow, watching as An'na curls into herself. "You like sleeping in strange men's clothes?" he teases but she just curls up more.

"Think I know who this 'stranger' is," An'na answers coolly. "And I've been trying to get my hands on one his shirts for awhile now,"

"Really?" He asks, taken back by the admission.

"Mhm, really," An'na leans back on her pillow, curling into a somewhat fetal position before dragging the computer around and closer to her face. "But I think the owner of this shirt is in denial."

He snorts in disbelief, "In denial about what?"

"He was jealous…"

A/N: I've had this sitting on my computer for awhile and decided to finally post it because it's so cute!

Totally Irrelevant Facts:

Word Count: 1,977 without author's notes

Page Numbers: 5

Musical Inspiration: Jason Reeves: 'Only with you', 'Infinity to One'

Peace, Love and Pasta!

-CeCe ^^