Hi so I kind of am in the mood for a fluffy brotherly Gil/Lutz-fic with a baby Lutz and since I can... I do xD I hope you like it, please review to tell me what I can do better~
There he sat in the darkness, his legs pulled up to his chest, his thin arms wrapped around them and his teary face hid in his knees, as small sobs shook his trembling body. He didn't dare crying any louder, even though the small child only wanted to scream for his brother to come and save him. But he was too scared of what would hear him too, maybe...
The sound that had woken him up was the rustling of cloth, and from now to then he could still hear the sound, making him tremble harder and beg that whatever was there, it hadn't noticed him yet. After some more minutes in which it stayed silent, he dared to relax, only to cramp himself back into a ball the next second when the rustling sound returned. This time he couldn't stand it anymore. "GILBERT!"
He jumped on his feet, and ran for his life, through his room, out into the hall and down the hallway to his brother's room, but before he could even reach the door, it was being torn open, the albino standing half dressed in the doorway, sword in hand and a face as if he was about to murder somebody. Immediately, Ludwig let himself fall to the ground, making himself as small as possible and hoping his brother wouldn't hurt him. 'It's my fault that he's so angry... I disturbed his sleep...' A soft whimper left him. "S-sorry, pl-please don't hurt me..." He had now been staying for two full weeks at the man's place, not yet trusting him with all of his heart even though he felt grateful that the man who called himself his big brother had taken him with him back from the battlefield he had woken up on.
In the next moment he heard a surprised gasp and metal being shoved against metal, a sign for the albino having put his sword away. Then he felt a pair of strong and warm arms wrap themselves around his tiny frame, pulling him up against a hard chest and a rough finger pushing his chin up, forcing him to look into those red eyes.
At the boy's crying face, Gilbert frowned and looked into the direction of his baby brother's room, before looking back down on the small body. "You gave me quite the scare, screaming like that. I thought somebody was skinning you alive or something." When Ludwig looked only even more terrified than before, he bit his lower lip and cursed in his head. "What happened? Was it a bad dream?" He carried the silent and still terrified boy into his room, putting him down on the bed. But when he wanted to let him go, tiny arms shot forward and a small head pressed itself against his stomach, the shoulders belonging to the head beginning to tremble again with sobs. "H-hey... hey don't cry... shh... I am sure, awesome big brother can make it okay again. Won't you tell me?"
He couldn't. As much as the tiny boy wanted to tell his brother that there was a monster in his bedroom, he couldn't, too afraid and too shaken up to speak, so only sobs fell from his lips as he pressed himself closer to the male.
Hesitant and quite unsure about what to do, Gilbert looked down on the crying child. "I can go and look for the maiden if you want somebody to sing you a lullaby or something..." he said, trying to cheer the boy up any way possible. The blond child only shook his head, holding on tighter to the cloth of his brother's shirt while still trembling violently from panic.
'Shit what can I do? I don't even know how to handle children!' The albino bit his lower lip, looking through the room as if he expected to see something that could give him an idea. Until his eyes fell on his bedside table. A small smile lit up his face. 'I think I know something!'
Gilbert sighed, placing his hand on the boy's head, combing his fingers through his soft golden hair before lifting him up and sitting him down in his lap. For minutes he only held Ludwig, rubbing his back and comforting him silently, feeling his heart ache at the continuous crying. "As long as I am here nobody and nothing can hurt you..." he mumbled softly, hoping to make the baby-boy cheer up. "And if I am not around then there is always something else there to protect you. Do you know what that is?"
There, he had hooked him. Ludwig lifted his red and teary face up, shaking his head. Gilbert smiled down on him, wiping his tears away. "Then I have to show you if you don't know, ja?"
A shy nod, the boy's eyes following him around as he reached into the night drawer and pulled his iron cross out. "Do you know what this is?" A hesitant shaking of his head. "This is what German soldiers get when they are really brave and do something good for their country... And it's mine. I will give it to you so you always have something with you that holds the strength and bravery of a man worth the iron cross, okay?"
Big blue eyes watched him, a tiny hand reaching out to touch the cold iron. Of course had he already seen the cross around his big brother's neck, had seen him show it off proudly. And that was supposed to be his now?
New tears formed in his blue eyes and he hid his face in Gilbert's chest again, crying just as hard as before and giving his brother a minor heart attack. 'Shit shit shit! What have I done now? Am I that bad at comforting a child?'
"I-I'm sorry... I'm not being very awesome tonight, am I?" Sheepishly he rubbed the back of his neck and looked down on the boy who gave him a slightly confused glance, holding the cross close to his chest in his tiny fist. "N-No... I mean y-yes you are awe-awesome!" He giggled lightly and sniffed, leaning into Gilbert's big hands that wiped his tears away.
"But you are still crying... and I don't even yet know what happened." "But I'm so happy that big brother is so kind to me..." Ludwig whispered, his big blue eyes shining with admiration towards the taller man. "O-oh.." a little surprised for actually getting admired one time instead of laughed at for his self proclaimed 'awesomeness' he blushed and grinned.
"See, I told you I was awesome!" An exhausted head leaned against his shoulder, the soft blond hair of his brother tickling his nose as he pressed a quick kiss against his forehead.
"Do you want to tell big brother why you were crying?" Immediately the tiny hands returned to gripping his shirt in fear, blue terrified eyes widening in terror as he remembered the reason for his actions.
Small tremors ran through him again, his sight getting blurry once more while he forced his mouth open. "There's... there's a m-monster in my room!"
"A monster?" The child nodded, making Gilbert frown. "Do you want big brother to go and look for the monster?" "NEIN!" He jumped slightly at the scream of utter terror coming from the usually quiet child. "Nein... i-if the monster gets big... big brother... he will die and I will be all al-alone."
The sobbing started once more but this time Gilbert couldn't help but chuckle, making the boy look up. "No monster could ever hurt big brother! Big brother is strong and he's going to kick a-.. to kick every monster out of his baby brother's room! Nobody can hurt you as long as I am around." He took the iron cross from the small boy's hands and instead lifted it over his head, bringing it around his neck. "There, now you'll always be safe. And now let's go for that monster you've been talking about it! The awesome me will catch it and eat it for breakfast tomorrow morning, ja?" Ludwig giggled lightly, nodding against the strong chest he was holding on to.
Gilbert lifted the boy up and grabbed his sword, holding his brother up with the other room before acting as if he was on a super special mission while pressing himself against the wall, sliding along it to the other's room. The child on his arm had to stifle his giggles, even though he turned quite when they came to his door. "But be careful, big brother..." he whispered, hiding his face in his shoulder when the tall men entered, holding the sword in his hand just in case there really was something in the boys room.
He crossed the floor to one of the big windows and pulled the curtains open, letting the soft moonlight flood the room, looking around in search of something unusual. "So where's your monster, Lutz?" Ludwig peeked out from Gilbert's shoulder, beginning to relax when everything was quite. "Must have run away when it heard the awesome me approach," Gilbert boasted, wanting to make the child giggle like before.
"But I swear there-..." He stopped immediately when he heard it again, the rustling of cloth. "T-there.." he forced out of his throat, feeling the muscles of his brother tense as he held on to him. Seconds later he heard a soft laugh that constantly grew louder until Gilbert was shaking with laughter, holding his adorable brother close to his chest, recognizing the 'sound of the monster'.
"Kleiner... Look and watch how your brother defeats your 'monster'." With long strides the albino made his way to the second window and opened the curtains there too, revealing an half open window that from time to time blew some air through the split, causing the curtain to rustle softly.
"There." Gilbert closed the window, smiling down on the boy. But instead of seeing a relieved face he met a downright guilty and embarrassed expression, as well as new tears swelling up in the already red-cried eyes.
He sat them both down on the bed, worriedly taking the child's face in his hands, trying to meet his gaze but the other wouldn't look at him. "S-sorry... I woke you up... because of nothing."
"Now that's not true. You woke me up because you needed me and not because of nothing. It's okay, going to look for help when it's needed and it's okay to be scared." With a soft, and quite untypical, smile he leaned down and pressed another kiss against the child's forehead. "
"Do you want big brother to sleep with you tonight?" Ludwig gave a silent nod and cuddled close to the man who laid down next to him, feeling him wrap his arms around his tiny body and at the same time he was very aware of the cold metal of the iron cross pressing against his chest.
'I'm safe. He's with me so I'm safe.' A small smile played on his lips as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Ich had dich lieb, großer Bruder." (1) „Ich hab dich auch lieb, mein kleiner Bär." (2)
(1) A certain, kind of softer form of „I love you." Used for family or friends. "I love you, big brother"
(2) "I love you too, my little bear."